STILL... LIFE: FLOWER. FRUIT. FOLIAGE. | Watercolours by Shefali Upadhyay and Swati Chandak Sharma: 5-15 February, 2026

Still... Life: Flower. Fruit. Foliage.: Watercolours by Shefali Upadhyay and Swati Chandak Sharma: 5 - 15 February, 2026

For Spring 2026, ARTISANS' turns to the quietude of nature in an uneasy world, with Still... Life: Flower. Fruit. Foliage. 

Designers-turned-artists, Swati Chandak Sharma and Shefali Upadhyay have more in common than their training at the National Institute of Design (NID), India. In 2020, during the first pandemic year, both independently turned to nature, and arrived at painting. Working in watercolour, their practices are grounded in observation, patience, and quiet attention.

Shefali Upadhyay’s practice dwells on the natural cycle of life, rendering moments of growth, transformation, and decay, with equal care. By attending to what is often overlooked, the dry, the withering, and the frail, her work resists idealisation, and proposes a compassionate way of seeing life in all its fragility.

Swati Chandak Sharma’s extends this attentiveness into the domestic space, where manmade and natural forms coexist as tabletop still-life. While each still-life is alive with detail, her compositions move beyond representation, offering images of stillness and contemplation. Each painting inspires a fresh look at nature, one that draws our attention to the transformation of life around us.

About Swati Chandak Sharma

Swati is a Mumbai-based fine artist, with a postgraduate degree in Visual Communications from the National Institute of Design (NID), India. She is deeply moved by nature, and captures Mumbai’s flora and fauna in watercolour, with a keen eye for detail. Painting layer by layer allows her to slow down and meditate upon the revelations of nature, which offer a constantly changing counterpoint to the bustling urban environment she inhabits.

About Shefali Upadhyay

A textile designer from The National Institute of Design, (NID), India, Shefali began her career with Ravissant, before transitioning to graphic design. She built a distinguished career in visual communications over two decades with British publisher, Dorling Kindersley. Her first solo exhibition in 2025, Delhi met with critical acclaim, and her art was selected for the first Botanical Art World Wide 2025 India Exhibition, Pune.