Multidisciplinary Artist

Diya is an Indian artist based in Naarm whose work navigates the intersections of care and violence, the past and present, the personal and political. Engaging with culturally significant pigments, domestic objects, and textiles, she deconstructs dominant power narratives to create space for cultural exchange, dialogue, and reconciliation. Central to her practice is care as a transformative gesture, subverting symbols of rupture to create representations of repair.

For Diya, artmaking functions as a site of reconciliation, where materiality and repetition confront historical trauma, metaphorizing collective healing. Drawing on Indian craft traditions such as rafoogari (mending), rangoli (temporary decorative motifs), and handmade fabric sculptures, her work disrupts colonial legacies that enforce division, recontextualizing these practices to foster dialogue. In doing so, she transforms symbols of fracture into markers of attachment, reflecting how cultural histories can be reimagined.

Her practice challenges oppositional frameworks by permeating rigid borders through shared cultural expressions, oral histories, and artmaking. By reshaping materials and symbols, Diya seeks to deepen the understanding of inherited trauma and its potential healing through collective action, inviting reflection on the role of care in bridging divides and nurturing connection.