My mom often says that when I was a kid, if you didn’t hear from me, it usually meant I was somewhere in a corner, busy making something fun out of whatever scraps I could find. I was certain I’d end up in a creative field - until life happened. Like many Indian kids, I was nudged toward science, engineering, practicality, and safer decisions. Somewhere along the way art moved to the background. I didn’t study it formally. I didn’t train for it. I just kept returning to it quietly, like a forbidden love.
My art philosophy is simple: art, not technique.
I’m drawn to the experience of a moment - to what’s felt, remembered, interpreted and lived - rather than the rules of representation. Over time, I’ve come to understand that my way of seeing isn’t incidental to my work, it shapes it. This portfolio is built around that perspective: how I notice, translate, and hold on to moments.
I’m drawn to the experience of a moment - to what’s felt, remembered, interpreted and lived - rather than the rules of representation. Over time, I’ve come to understand that my way of seeing isn’t incidental to my work, it shapes it. This portfolio is built around that perspective: how I notice, translate, and hold on to moments.
This body of work reflects an artist in her 30s finding her voice - not by reclaiming something lost, but by choosing it deliberately. It’s about finding art beyond technique, and believing there’s a world worth pursuing outside traditional paths that's guided by curiosity rather than credentials.
By day, I’m a product manager in tech, excited by AI and what it enables. At the same time, I feel a growing need to keep creating for myself, to make sure my own way of seeing doesn’t get lost in a world that’s increasingly generated. I'm an observer who pays close attention to everyday moments in a fast-moving, pixelated world, while traveling, waiting, observing, and living daily life. This space exists to honor that pursuit. To get better. To share.
Hi! I’m Karnika, an artist.
And I don’t flinch when I say that anymore.
And I don’t flinch when I say that anymore.