Meet Sujata Tibrewala | Eco feminist artist , Founder president Indian American Artists Association, open source leader , engineer,

We had the good fortune of connecting with Sujata Tibrewala and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi sujata, why did you pursue a creative career?
Art was always something I find solace in admist the commotion of life . However since I was good at studies and maths in general, everyone asked me to become an engineer. I didn’t know of a career path in art and hence went on to go to India’s two top schools to do my masters in Engineering and have been working in tech since . My tech journey has brought me to becoming an open source leader working with big names like Linux Foundation, Intel , Bytedance etc but art is still my go to when I want to de-stress or express something that bothers me in the society I live in , specially around social and gender inequality, environment etc. It gives me joy that I have had good fortune to exhibit some of work at major venues in US and India and the audience does love my art when I share it

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I am a self-taught, award-winning eco feminist artist from Lalit kala Academy India. My upcoming solo in March 2024 was approved by the Milpitas Arts Commission for the City of Milpitas art gallery in the US. My thoughts on art have been featured on the website of the National Museum of American History.

I am an active docent and active continuing docent education chair at San Jose Museum of Art. I am also the founder of president of Indian American Artists’ Association (IAAA) – a non-profit helping Indian-origin artists in the US find a platform to show their art.

I have conducted solos around the globe including University of Illinois, Chicago, Lalit Kala Academy, New Delhi, and Jawahar Kala Kendra, Jaipur.

I was also a part of the Art Mosaic Mission San Jose Street Fair 2023; a group show “Breaking the Frame” at ARTogether Center, Oakland, CA; subZERO festival in San Jose in 2023 & Tahoe Art League, Parallax, Chelsea, London; Raw San Jose, CA; Urban Art Retreat Fundraiser, Chicago, IL amongst many others.

My latest series about to be exhibited at Milpitas is called Curvy Yoga Series .

I am a curvy woman and have been practicing yoga for years and over period of years I have been able to master a few challenging poses. Whenever I do these poses in public, people get surprised that I am able to do these poses despite being a curvy woman with so much extra flab. Also Yoga originated in India, but the image of yoga is either a male yogi with lion cloth or a white female with thin slender body wearing tights and figure hugging clothes. I want to challenge the notion, through this series and travel all over India making the iconic Indian ladies in art take a break from being pretty princesses while they strike their favorite poses.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Day 1 – SFO , Golden Gate Bridge , museum of fine arts , crooked street , lunch at Yerba Buena Park , hike at twin peaks , dinner at fisherman’s wharf

Day 2 – Sf moma , cal academy and Asian museum of art

Day 3 – half moon bay

Day 4 – Santa Cruz, Monteray , 17 mile drive

Day 5 and 6 – Yosemite national park

Day 7 – San Jose museum of art , lunch at Annapurna , Santana row , dinner at Amber ,

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I am fearless and determined because of my dad and creative due to my mom . My grandparents taught me the value of living a disciplined yet independent life , both my grandfathers were fiercely independent till their last breath , and my grandmother lived a life by strict schedule and diet . My maths teacher inculcated the love of maths and renaissance artists inspired me to challenge status quo, Bangalore senior artist S. G. Vasudeva , once told me if I would include everything I knew in each painting I make I would do well , I still think about that when I create any painting and I am still interpreting what this means . Closer to home artist Salma Arastu is my inspiration in how humble and helpful she is to other artists . I learn from her universal work and her as a person too .

Website: https://www.sujatapratibimba.com/

Instagram: I’m on Instagram as @sujata.tibre. Install the app to follow my photos and videos. https://www.instagram.com/invites/contact/?igsh=10wjtcuxel48h&utm_content=6gcpzy2

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sujata-tibrewala?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app

Image Credits
My original work