Kuhu Shukla

Kuhu Shukla

Kuhu Shukla is a self-taught artist whose work draws on Warli art – an ancient tribal tradition from Maharashtra, India – and occasionally on the flowing forms of the Pacific Northwest. In her work, she reimagines Warli’s geometry as a language of memory and inner life, creating work that meditates on belonging, change, and metamorphosis. Rooted in the living spirit of nature, her paintings trace rhythms that connect humanity, landscape, and emotion.

Her works have been exhibited in:

Piracicaba Library, Brazil;
Indian Cultural Outreach Programs in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil
South Asia Institute Artist Critique Events by School of the Art Institute of Chicago;
Digital Power of Women conference for W20 , 2024;
The Winter edition of the Spreads Magazine;
Art. At. The . Cohen , Urbana;
Giertz Gallery At Parkland, Champaign;
Espresso Royale, Village Green, Champaign;
The Riggs Brewing Company;
Boneyard Festival 2024, 2025.

Details on the Art Initiative IdamNaMamah : This is Not Mine (In sanskrit) Emerging around 2500 BCE among the Warli tribe of Maharashtra, India, Warli art is one of humanity’s oldest living visual languages. With its spare geometry of circles, triangles, and lines, it speaks of rhythm, community, and the eternal bond between humankind and nature. In my work, I draw upon Warli’s timeless symbology , occasionally alongside the flowing forms of the Pacific Northwest — two traditions united by their reverence for the natural world. Through them, I seek to move beyond external scenes of life into the inner workings of the mind — landscapes shaped by memory, myth, emotions and imagination. In this dialogue, I hope to bring an art form as old as time to my new home in the midwest.

What does Idam Nh Mamah mean? In Hindu fire rituals for any special occasion be it a marriage or a birthday or a funeral, you take turns and feed the fire with food, ghee, oil, scented water etc. Each time you put something in the fire, you recite Idam Nh Mamah, which means This Is Not Mine but merely an offering that passes through me – to you. Going back to where we all come from and where we are all headed.