About Me
Born in 1978 in New Delhi, where she continues to live and work, Puja Khanna Duggal’s artistic journey spans over two and a half decades, reflecting her deep engagement with creativity. Her work explores paradoxes—situations or statements with two or more parts that seem strange or impossible together, like pleasure and pain, life and death, architectural landscapes, and cityscapes.
Puja’s journey into the world of art began at a young age, with Fine Arts as her major subject in school. She later completed her undergraduate studies in English Literature (Honors) at Jesus and Mary College, New Delhi, and pursued her Master’s degree at the National Institute of Technology. Despite a successful career in luxury fashion, working with prominent brands such as Kenzo, Kookai, Kurt Geiger, Next UK, Primadonna, Tata Italia, Cosmoparis, Minnelli, San Marina, and Zara, it took the disruptions caused by the pandemic for Puja to return to her first love—painting.
Her paintings and mixed media artworks are a kaleidoscope of influences, ranging from abstract expressionism to realistic architectural art. They represent a dynamic interplay between image and texture, often characterized by psychological complexity and dark humor. Puja’s work combines traditional Indian handicraft and textile techniques, such as embroidery and appliqué, with painting on cloth, canvas, board, and wood, creating a rich visual language that negotiates the real and the imaginary.
Her artistic practice spans painting, murals, embroidery, and multimedia installations, imbuing forms, techniques, concepts, and spatial constructs that define Indian culture with contemporary awareness. The work is not just a visual experience but also a tactile one, where traditional Indian crafts meet contemporary artistic expression.
At the intersection of art and traditional craftsmanship, Puja works with locally sourced recycled materials, using them in paints as well as in multimedia embroideries. Her art tackles issues of gender, healing, cultural destruction, and sustainability, constantly striving to balance continuity with innovation, aesthetic experimentation with social relevance.
Today, Puja continues to design and manufacture footwear and bags for European and other international markets as the Design Director of Indishoe Company, while her paintings and mixed media artworks continue to evolve. Her work from the pandemic until now reflects the world through her eyes—a space where dreams, nightmares, constant mental chatter, and reality all seem to merge, engaging further in questions of life and death, sometimes held in between.