Hi, I’m Pooja!
Pooja Bhansali is a Mumbai-based contemporary artist whose work explores material, texture, and resilience through layered abstraction. Drawing from a background in fashion and textile design and shaped by experiences between New York and Mumbai, her practice brings together art and fabric to create tactile, contemplative surfaces.
Short Bio
With over two decades of creative experience, Pooja’s work is deeply influenced by her training in fashion, textiles, and fine art. Her material-driven approach often replaces traditional canvas with textiles such as herringbone tweed, silk brocade, and wool felt, combined with custom wooden structures. This distinctive fusion allows her to create works that sit between painting, textile, and object.
Having studied and worked in New York before returning to Mumbai, her work reflects both global design influences and a deeply personal visual language shaped by lived experience, experimentation, and a continued curiosity for materials.
Artist Journey
My creative journey began over twenty years ago with a natural inclination towards art, design, and working with materials. I studied fashion design in Mumbai, but art was always more than a subject for me it was something I kept returning to instinctively, a quiet space that constantly inspired me to think and create.
My curiosity about textiles took me to New York, where I studied Textile and Surface Design at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT), along with fine art and digital design courses at Parsons School of Design. This exposure shaped the way I think about surfaces and materials even today. My work often moves beyond traditional canvas to include fabrics like herringbone tweed, silk brocade, and wool felt. I enjoy bringing these together with handcrafted wooden frames to create pieces where material, texture, and form become part of the story.
My early professional years in New York, working within the design industry, gave me invaluable experience in discipline, process, and visual thinking. That phase helped me understand how ideas evolve from concept to creation a learning that continues to guide my art practice. Having lived and worked between New York and Mumbai, my creative influences remain global, shaped by exposure to international design thinking as well as my roots in India.
For the past decade, I have been based in Mumbai, where I live and work while raising my two sons and managing the everyday rhythms of family life. During this time, I have continued to steadily nurture my art practice. What started as a personal exploration slowly grew through experimentation and participation in group exhibitions and shows. I strongly believe that when we move through demanding phases of life, we often return with greater strength and clarity, and this idea of quiet resilience continues to inspire the layered and textural nature of my work.
Presenting my work through exhibitions, including my solo show at Jehangir Art Gallery, marks important milestones in this evolving journey. Being able to share my work in Mumbai, the city where I live and create today, makes this journey feel both grounded and meaningful.
At its heart, my work is about building building layers, building meaning, and building strength through experience. Through my work, I hope viewers find a sense of calm, connection, and their own quiet stories within the surfaces.