Rithika Merchant
Mumbai

To understand the world they inhabit, humans tell one another stories. For Indian artist Rithika Merchant, our propensity for mythmaking has endured to this day. But instead of seeking answers to our origins, we are searching for solutions to our current and future crises. Born in 1986 in Mumbai and a graduate of the Parsons School of Design in New York, Merchant took inspiration from Joseph Campbell’s book of comparative mythology, The Hero With a Thousand Faces (1949). In her works she molds together ancient myths from diverse cultures to create a universal cosmic tale. She crafts these narratives on paper using gouache, watercolors, and ink, and adds another dimension to her work by folding the paper and using the creases to guide her compositions.