Though she left India to study – she is a graduate of Parsons The New School for Design in New York – and to travel, particularly for residencies, she always remained very attached to her homeland. In her paintings, she reinvents Indian mythology, its symbols and its traditions.

Success came quickly. Today, Rithika Merchant’s work is exhibited in Paris, London and Mumbai. Her art captures vibrant universes in which beings mingle with nature that is in a perpetual state of metamorphosis. Steeped in the botanical engravings of centuries past, Indian rites and childhood memories, her creations draw the eye and captivate, gradually guiding it towards an awareness of the importance of ancestral links between humankind and our environment.

Rithika Merchant tirelessly explores those connections, that interdependence, the resonances that shape our relationship to the world and constitute our ecosystem. Her art becomes political: the “enchanted worlds”  she imagines prompt viewers to rethink their relationship with the Earth, the living creatures around us, our history, life. Rithika Merchant’s quest clearly aligns with the approach of Maria Grazia Chiuri, who never ceases, through her collections, to showcase committed female artists.