Indian artists who hit their stride in Hong Kong: ‘I had the chance to turn into a butterfly’

A number of Hong Kong-based artists with Indian origins are having an impact on the city’s art scene, from public art to art-styled fashion

The first Indian wall mural festival was held in the city in January, organised by a local retailer that promotes India’s traditional art forms

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Indian artist Riya Chandiramani, pictured with her artwork in her studio in Hong Kong’s Central district, is one of several artists in the city from India who are having an impact on the local arts scene. Photo: Jonathan Wong

Published: 7:45am, 10 Sep 2020Updated: 8:11am, 10 Sep 2020

When she’s not painting walls, Riya Chandiramani says she’s breaking them down. An artist born and raised in Hong Kong to Indian immigrant parents, and an advocate for gender equality and women’s empowerment, Chandiramani, 26, says her art challenges restrictive ideas that define how women “should” be.

She is now working on her first solo series called Cereal Box, a commentary on consumerism, nourishment and the female body.

“It draws inspiration from Indo-Persian miniature paintings, Chinese Mao-era propaganda posters and commercial branding of consumer products,” she says. “The series is about how in our capitalist society we are taught there isn’t enough, and that we are not enough in our most natural, truest state. We have to consume to fill these voids. We have to buy into brands that will give us everything we could possibly need.”

Chandiramani is one of a number of Hong Kong artists with Indian origins who are having an impact on the city’s art scene – from public art to art-styled fashion – but she hasn’t always questioned social mores.

A home mural by Chandiramani. Photo: Riya Chandiramani

Growing up, she preferred to conform, she says, and in her senior year of college she struggled with an eating disorder.

“By my senior year I was on the brink of death and asked to leave university in order to seek treatment for anorexia,” she says. Her struggles led her to experimenting with art, returning to a pursuit she had earlier dismissed because it wasn’t “professional” enough.