JK Paper Award for the Arts:
Propositions in Paper (2025)
The Anant Foundation for the Arts, in partnership with JK Paper, launched the second edition of the JK Paper Award for the Arts: Propositions in Paper (2025).
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 India.
Three shortlisted finalists will attend a residency at Arthshila’s Art Studios at Parivartan, Siwan.
Both residencies include an exhibitionary component.
Winner of the Award

Pritish Bali
Born in Amritsar, Punjab, and now based in New Delhi, Pritish Bali is a multidisciplinary visual artist whose work spans painting, sound, and text. With a Master’s in Painting from The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, his artistic practice is deeply rooted in themes of identity, memory, and reimagining personal and collective histories. Pritish uses a mix of found and created elements—images, text, and sound—to challenge conventional narratives and offer new perspectives.
Honourable Mentions

Born in Jamshedpur, Jharkand, Debashruti Aich (b.1990) is a visual artist now based in Hyderabad. She obtained her MVA in Graphic Arts from The Maharaja Sayajirao University, Baroda. Her practice delves into the intricacies of an autobiographical experience through a visual language grounded in the disciplines of drawing, printmaking and painting with elements of textile work and embroidery.

Ruma Choudhury
Having grown up in Birbhum, Ruma Choudhury’s (b. 1990) practice is centered around documenting its landscape. Having completed her Bachelors and Masters in Painting from Visva Bharati University, Santiniketan, Choudhury started working with handmade paper made out of collected, discarded natural fibres. She has built an archive of found materials that include rain water, tree bark, stone, skin of insect and animals, nests, dry flowers, that she uses to create abstract narratives of ecological loss.

Sudeshna Nandi
As a member of a Bangladeshi migrant family settled in Badkulla, West Bengal, Sudeshna Nandi (b. 2000) has devoted her practice to exploring issues around displacement and cultural integration, along with challenging conservative norms imposed on women in patriarchal societies. With an MFA in Painting from Visva Bharati University, Santiniketan, her art employs paper pulp as a medium of fragility and resilience to capture the intricacies of women navigating traditionalist environments in her community and beyond.
Jury

Adip Dutta (b. 1970) is a practising artist, with his focus on drawing and sculpture. He is a teacher in the sculpture department at the Faculty of Visual Arts, Rabindra Bharati University, Kolkata.

B. V. Suresh (b. 1960) holds an MA in Painting from Royal College of Art (1985-87). He has taught in M.S. University, Baroda as full-time faculty, and is currently teaching at the Department of Fine Arts, S.N. School, University of Hyderabad. Suresh has held several solo shows and participated in national and international group exhibitions. He has also done several collaborative projects with fellow artists and theatre persons, illustrated children’s books, participated in art camps and conducted numerous workshops on video and intermedia in colleges.

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

