Rithika Merchant

Rithika Merchant is a visual artist from Mumbai, India (b 1986). Something about her work grabbed me the moment I first saw it, and it stays with me. (The Shapeshifters Escape, 2021)

According to her web site, "Her work explores the common thread that runs through different cultures and religions. Similar myths, stories and ideas are shared by cultures all around the world, her paintings explore this concept while also featuring creatures and symbolism that are part of her personal visual vocabulary." (Wild Planet, 2021)

Based on the work I have seen, this seems to mean that she has read a lot of Jungian stuff like Joseph Campbell; she even has a series called Monomyth, which documents the stages of the standard heroes' quest of Jungian lore. (Through the Gates of Horn and Ivory, 2020)

The range of visual influences is broad: ancient Egypt, Mughal miniatures, 17th-century botanical prints, European folk art, and the sort of early 20th-century painting directly inspired by Anthroposophy or Jungian ideas. She says, “The figures in my works are also deliberately free of any race, gender, or ethnicity. I tend to be drawn to symbols that are universally recognizable and not culturally specific—like the eye, the sun, the moon, and botanical imagery in general.” (Bennu and Futuraheliopolis, 2021)

I just like them. (The Augur, 2019)

Sirius, 2021

Vela, 2021

Midnight Sun, 2022

Seed Vault, 2020

Perihelion, 2021