Earlier this year, I received an email that made me pause and smile. The Course Director from the Society of Botanical Artists (SBA) reached out, asking if I would be happy to have my Diploma portfolio piece — a cabbage painting from my final coursework — displayed in the UK. The exhibition was at the Mall Galleries in London, a special one marking SBA’s 40th anniversary.
The news felt surreal. While the original artwork stayed with me, a high-quality scan of it was chosen to be part of the DLDC exhibition — framed, curated, and displayed alongside works from other Diploma graduates. To think that something I created here, in the quiet of my studio in India, found its way to the walls of one of London’s most respected art spaces was both humbling and heartwarming.
As much as I wished I could’ve been there to see it in person, life had other plans. Around the same time, I was deeply involved in co-hosting India’s very first Botanical Art Worldwide exhibition with the newly formed Botanical Art Society of India. To witness history being made here at home — bringing together Indian botanical artists under one roof for the first time — was an equally meaningful milestone.
It reminded me that art has its own way of travelling and connecting worlds, even when we can’t physically be in two places at once.
This cabbage painting will always be special to me — not just as a study of form and texture, but as a symbol of what patience, practice, and dedication can lead to. It represents the bridge between my personal journey and the wider community of botanical art that I am so proud to be a part of.
I look forward to creating more works that find their way into exhibitions, both here in India and abroad. For now, I hold onto the joy of knowing that somewhere in London, a humble cabbage carried my story.
Society of Botanical Artist- https://www.soc-botanical-artists.org/exhibitions/plantae-2025/
SBA Instagram account- https://www.instagram.com/societybotanicalartists/
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