Sahana Ramakrishnan: Art SG | Booth FC02

Ramakrishnan's paintings center on animals at distinct moments of their lives: a snake shedding her skin, lions dreaming together, and fruit bats suspended in the space between day and night. Many of these creatures are, or once were, integral to the local ecosystems of South and Southeast Asia. Through the wordless language of painting, the work seeks to foster empathy and connection.

Inspired by Tantric art’s approach—where one begins with the self to reach the cosmos or with the cosmos to reach the self—this “forest” becomes a realm of individual narratives. The pieces draw on South Asian representations of flora and fauna as well as Western natural illustrations, yet question the typical ways animals are classified, understood, and placed within hierarchies of consciousness.