Neeta Khanuja

art

My practice is grounded in improvisation, with meaning emerging through visual art, movement, space, and human behavior. I often begin with emotions and observations from everyday life. Through figures, gestures, and relationships, I explore experiences of connection, tension, vulnerability, and reflection.

i.

improvisation & interactive art

I often begin without knowing what the final image will become. In the interactive work, improvisation extends beyond my own hand, allowing movement, technology, and participation to shape the work as it unfolds.

drawing with both hands

Two pens, one in each hand, drawing at the same time.

ambidextrous motion

@ Urmila Art Gallery, Kanoria Centre for Arts

Drawing with both hands introduces a degree of unpredictability. Sensors worn on each hand capture the movement and translate it into a live digital trace, allowing the physical and digital drawings to unfold together.

Drawing with both hands on a large sheet.
The live digital trace projected on a screen in the gallery.

Participants engaged with the ambidextrous drawing setup to create both physical drawings and digital traces. Shown together, these outcomes reveal how the same gesture can appear as a mark on paper and as a movement-based visualization.

A two-handed paper drawing of loose loops.
A dense two-handed paper drawing.
A two-handed drawing of two faces.
A blue digital trace of crossing lines.
A blue digital trace, layered.
A blue digital trace, lighter.

ii.

positive / negative

Black and white became a way to explore contrast between forms, emotions, bodies, and the spaces between them.

A dense black and white composition of interlocking figures.

synergy

@ 1399 Gallery, Lisbon

Figures emerge through contrast, but the spaces between them matter just as much. I became interested in how bodies can appear separate, connected, crowded, or held together within the same composition.

Shown as part of my solo exhibition Where We Need to Be at 1399 Gallery in Lisbon. The exhibition brought together works exploring identity, connection, adaptation, and how we understand ourselves through others.

Hanging a framed black and white work on the gallery wall.
Synergy and other works on the gallery wall during the exhibition.
Synergy: black figures crowded together on natural paper.
acrylic paint on natural paper
A digital version of Synergy, wide format.
digital
A digital version of Synergy, square format.

iii.

express

Human forms became a way to explore emotions that are difficult to describe directly. Through posture, closeness, distance, and touch, I explore moments of intimacy, uncertainty, comfort, tension, and reflection.

A wide painting of reclining black figures on a pale ground.

drama

emotions @ 1399 Gallery, Lisbon

This work explores the inner self in conversation with the outer world, holding the tension between what is felt internally and what is expressed outwardly.

Drama: two black figures, one holding the other.
A visitor beside Drama in the gallery.

control

emotions @ 1399 Gallery, Lisbon

I was thinking about the need to stay composed even when things feel uncertain inside. Control can offer a sense of protection, but it can also become heavy when we are constantly trying to hold ourselves together.

Control: a seated black figure held inside straight lines.

emotions

@ Urmila Art Gallery, Kanoria Centre for Arts

Developed during my artist residency at Kanoria Centre for Arts in Ahmedabad, this body of work explores emotion through clustered figures, gesture, and changing relationships between bodies.

Seven framed drawings on a gallery wall.

tufted art

emotions

Holding a round tufted rug of two entwined figures.
The round tufted rug, flat.

ocean, admire, day dream

emotions · digital

Ocean: two figures reaching across black waves.
ocean
This work is about two people from different worlds finding a way to connect, despite the distance between them.
Admire: one figure raised above another.
admire
This work explores how admiration can quietly place someone on a pedestal without us realizing it.
Day Dream: a figure drifting among black shapes.
day dream
This work reflects moments of drifting inward, when thoughts begin to detach from the immediate world.

thread as a medium

emotions @ Wick Monet Gallery, Pittsburgh

These works explore different forms of closeness between people, from a sense of belonging and support to the shifting emotions that emerge within a group. Embroidery executed by an artisan.

Community: embroidered figures on white cloth.
community
The Beach: embroidered figures on white cloth.
the beach

iv.

the line leads

Improvisation is central to how I make. I often begin without knowing what the final image will become, allowing gesture, movement, and material to guide the work.

A line drawing running along a white stairwell wall.

conversation

interactions @ Atelier da Graça, Lisbon

This work explores the unspoken exchange between two people, where posture, gaze, and proximity carry as much meaning as words.

Conversation, framed and leaning against a wall.
Conversation: two figures sharing tea, in one continuous line.
A wide canvas of interlocking line figures.

physical and digital

interactions @ 1399 Gallery, Lisbon

The same composition moves between physical and digital form, while retaining its sense of connection, density, and movement.

A round panel with an interlocking line drawing.
The same composition as white lines on black.

the wall

interactions @ 1399 Gallery, Lisbon

The wall became the canvas, extending the drawing into the architecture and allowing the figures to inhabit the space around the viewer.

Visitors in front of the wall drawing.
Visitors talking beside the wall drawing.

linocut and charcoal

interactions @ Kanoria Centre for Arts, Ahmedabad

At Kanoria Centre for Arts, I extended my drawing practice through linocut printmaking and charcoal, exploring how the same visual language changes across materials and processes.

Long linocut prints and a charcoal drawing in the studio.
A linocut print laid out on the studio floor.

drawing live

Drawings made in front of people, on paper, glass and boards.

Drawing a line on a large sheet on the floor.
@ Wick Monet, Pittsburgh
@ Beryti Café, Barcelona

one line

digital

Digital drawings, each made in one continuous line.

introvert
relax
slow down
summer festival
it’s okay
wine and roses

v.

line into material

The drawings move off the page into metal, printed forms, thread and the body.

A round 3D printed drawing lit from behind, casting shadow.

brass and silver

interactions

These works translate my figurative drawings into conceptual jewellery, where the body becomes part of the composition. Fabricated by an artisan.

Perception: a brass piece held against the face.
perception
Our opinions differ, but our intentions align.
Dilemma: a brass earring in profile.
dilemma
How I resolve the conflict within me makes me who I am.
You and Me: a round pendant worn on the back.
you and me
I see you and I stand by you in your most chaotic expression.

3D prints

interactions

Giving the drawing physical depth changes how it is seen. Light, shadow, and projection create new versions of the same form.

A round 3D printed drawing held against a white wall.

thread as a medium

interactions @ Atelier da Graça, Lisbon

Thread gives the drawing a tactile presence, allowing the figures to move from the surface into the texture and softness of textile. Embroidery executed by an artisan.

An embroidered square of line figures.
A tall embroidered textile hanging on a wall.
Embroidery on textile · approx. 90 × 220 cm

vi.

movement arts & body as a canvas

Movement gives me another way to improvise and explore. Through the body, I work with rhythm, balance, emotion, and space, allowing gestures to develop intuitively.

A dancer on the floor with a white line drawn over her body.

body as a canvas

interactions

The drawing shifts with gesture, posture, and motion, making the body both canvas and performer. Movement artist: Safire Hikari.

Black lines painted across a face and shoulder.
Painting lines along an arm.
The painted body in a standing pose.
video by Flora Claire Heloïse

explore

body, movement and space

Movement gives me a way to work through gesture, rhythm, and emotion. These studies begin with improvised movement and develop into compositions where the body, image, and surrounding space come together.

A grid of movement stills joined by a drawn line.
Movement poses arranged around a long line.
Movement stills framed by a winding line.

Through improvisation, I explore how the body responds to space, constraint, and possibility. Gesture and posture create shifting relationships between the body and its surroundings.

Four stills of a body in a doorway, with a drawn line.
Four stills of a body curled on the floor, with a drawn line.
synergy, movement video · dance by Neeta Khanuja, video by Megh Mehta

movement video

Hilde Pank’s exhibition, Germany, 2021 · KOSMOS Chaos, Schloss Gleina, 2024

Shown at the finissage of an exhibition by Hilde Pank in 2021, and again on a screen beside photographs at KOSMOS Chaos, Schloss Gleina, in 2024.

dance by Neeta Khanuja, video by Megh Mehta

exhibitions

More at khanujaneeta.com