CHINMAYEE BEHERA

Chinmayee Behera (b. 1991, Odisha) The interplay between human life, nature, animals and the rural landscape is the subject of Chinmayee Behera's artistic endeavours. Raised in a small village in Odisha, she draws on recollections of rural life, regional crafts, and the abundance of her natural surrounds to think through migration, urbanization, environmental crisis, and the slow shifts in human behaviour that accompany them. Working across oil painting, paper cutting and mixed media, Behera produces poetic visuals that explore ecological destruction, displacement, and the enduring quest for belonging — a body of work rooted as much in memory as in observation.

Behera holds a Master's in Visual Art from Utkal University of Culture, Bhubaneswar (2015), and a Bachelor's in Visual Art from Bibhuti Kanungo College of Art & Crafts, Bhubaneswar (2013). Her practice has been recognised through the Lalit Kala Akademi Scholarship, New Delhi (2018), a Junior Research Fellowship from the Ministry of Culture, India (2016), the 8th Shilpi Divas Award, Bhubaneswar, the Camlin Best Entry Award, Mumbai, and the Prafulla Art Foundation Best Woman Entry Award, among others. In 2016 she was also selected for the Camlin Euro Tour, and in 2015 received the 36th State Lalit Kala Akademi Award, Odisha.

Her work has been shown at Tara Art & Kalakriti Art Gallery, Hyderabad (2026); Synapsy International Art Gallery, Lucknow, in both The Rural Rhythm (2025) and Sonic Serenity (2024); the AIFACS Annual Art Exhibition, New Delhi (2022); Art35 at Nine Fish Art Gallery, Mumbai (2022); Parikrama, a research scholar exhibition at Lalit Kala Akademi, Bhubaneswar (2019); the Camlin National Art Exhibition at Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai (2017); Kalananda Art Exhibition, Kolkata (2017); the AIFACS 87th National Exhibition (2016); and Emerging Palettes at Shrishti Art Gallery, Hyderabad (2016), among others.

She has participated in several residencies and workshops, including the West Zone Cultural Centre Painters' Camp, Goa (2019); the Piramal Art Residency, Mumbai (2017); the AIFACS Junior Artist Camp, New Delhi (2017); Reflection, an international residency in New Delhi (2016); and the A4A Residency at Sanskriti Kendra, New Delhi (2015).