JK Paper Award for the Arts:
Propositions in Paper, 2026
The Anant Foundation for the Arts, in partnership with JK Paper, launched the third edition of the JK Paper Award for the Arts: Propositions in Paper (2026).
The award has been created with the intention of appreciating paper as an enduring technology and medium of expression within the arts. Through this programme, we hope to support and promote a wide range of practices that are interested in process-oriented, independent, and unpredictable explorations that push the limits of paper as a material.
The legacy of JK Paper Ltd. goes back to 1938 with the setting up of Straw Products Ltd. From being the pioneer of branded paper in India, the company today is a leading sustainable paper product solutions provider. We thank JK Paper Ltd. for their generous support.
The winner will receive a monetary award of INR 1,50,000 as well as a residency in partnership with Jaipur Centre for Art.
Three shortlisted finalists will receive a residency in collaboration with Arthshila Studios at Parivartan, Siwan.
Both residencies include an exhibitionary component.
Winner of the Award
Ritwika Ganguly
Originally from Kolkata, Ritwika Ganguly (b. 1999) is a visual artist based in Baroda. With a BFA and MVA in Painting from Kala Bhavana, Santiniketan (2018-22) and Faculty of Fine Arts, MSU Baroda (2022-24) respectively. She is interested in drawing everyday gestures and incidents out of their quotidian contexts and investigating the ambiguity of these details. She works across multiple mediums that include drawings, watercolour wash, frame by frame animation, stop-motion, video and more recently, projection mapping.
Honourable Mentions
A group of three artists have been awarded a Certificate of Recognition from Anant Foundation for the Arts for outstanding practice. They will attend a residency at Arthshila’s Art Studios at Parivartan in Siwan, and also take part in a group exhibition to be held at Anant Art Gallery in the coming months.
Jyotismriti Bordoloi
Jyotismriti Bordoloi (b. 2001) is from Golaghat, Assam. She completed her BFA in Painting from Visva Bharati University, Santiniketan, and is currently pursuing her MVA (Painting) at the Maharaja Sayajirao University, Baroda. Her practice explores the body as a site of memory, archive, and lived experience, engaging with themes of fragility, care, and the personal as political. Working primarily with drawing and process-based methods, including mark-making and the use of materials such as bodily residue, she approaches art-making as a way of listening to the body rather than representing it. Her work remains open-ended and evolving, reflecting the layered and unstable nature of memory and sensation.
Om Kumar
Om Kumar (b. 2000) is a visual artist based in Delhi, having completed his BFA and MFA in Painting from the College of Art, Delhi. He is interested in portraying working-class men in Indian society, through themes around work, pressure and the risks involved in everyday menial jobs where the labouring body is invested with the affective charge of unseen labour and inner struggles.
Sejal Solanki
Sejal Solanki (b. 1996) is a visual artist with a Post Diploma from the Faculty of Fine Arts, Maharaja Sayajirao University, Baroda and a DFA from Sheth C.N. College of Fine Arts, Ahmedabad. She works primarily with tea wash, gouache, and wash techniques, creating delicate and layered artworks that explore memory, everyday life, and emotional spaces. Sejal is based in Baroda.
Jury
Atul Bhalla (b. 1964) is a conceptual artist and Professor of Visual Art in the Department of Art, Media and Performance at Shiv Nadar Institute of Eminence, Greater Noida. His interdisciplinary practice addresses environmental urgencies, with a sustained focus on water and its physical, historical, and political significance across urban and non-urban contexts. Atul has exhibited widely at international institutions and biennials, and his work is held in public collections including the Harvard Art Museums, the Smithsonian Asian Art Museum, and Kiran Nadar Museum of Art. He is the recipient of the Rockefeller Bellagio Residency (2025).
Prajakta Potnis (b. 1980) is a Mumbai-based visual artist whose practice spans painting, video, and time-based installations. Her work explores the subtle tensions and fractures embedded within everyday domestic spaces, with a particular focus on gender dynamics and social divisions. Potnis has exhibited extensively in India and internationally since 2005. She was awarded the Loewe Foundation and Studio Voltaire International Residency for 2024–25.
Sheila Makhijani (b. 1962) is a New Delhi-based painter. She completed her Master’s from College of Art, Delhi in 1988. Later she went on to study on Monbusho scholarship at the Kanazawa Bijutsu Kogei Daigaku, Kanazawa, Japan. She has participated in various solos, group shows and workshops in India and abroad.
Partners
Application Requirements
- Updated CV
- Self-attested digital scan of passport/Aadhar/PAN
- One colour photograph of the applicant
- Portfolio of not more than 12 images of paper works with accompanying concept note, artist statement, with a 25 MB limit
Eligibility
Works on paper including drawing, painting, sculpture, installation, mixed media as well as interdisciplinary artistic explorations.
Currently not accepting prints.
Open to any practitioner of Indian nationality under the age of 40.
Submission deadline
31 August, 2025
Submission and Inquiry