Nibha Akireddy
September 9 – December 17, 2022
Opening Reception: Friday, September 9 | 5 to 8pm
An exhibition of paintings by Nibha Akireddy in /room/, juried by Micki Meng and Nkiruka Oparah.
Crybaby Demoness Diaries is an exhibition of five oil paintings by Nibha Akireddy, created during various points of isolation over the past two years. Akireddy has always identified with rakshasis, the female demons of Hindu mythology. As a painter, a younger sibling, and an Aquarius (the perfect storm), she sees herself in characters who aren’t afraid to throw a tantrum. Largely self-portraits, the paintings featured in Crybaby Demoness Diaries draw on influences including Hindu mythology, the “Psychedelic Orientalism” of 60s rock music, Indian miniature painting, the tiny San Francisco backyard the artist used as a studio, and the convex optimization homework she worked on between painting sessions. Through one painting in particular, Simhika, the artist engages with the Hindu story of the battle between the rakshasi Simhika and god Hanuman and throws away the good-vs-evil dichotomy to explore Simhika’s experiences and emotions in relation to her own. Akireddy connects her painting practice to dance, music, food, clothing, parties, friendships, the math she studied, as well as the communities that have pushed her to question how and why she creates art.
Nibha Akireddy is an artist from the South Bay Area. She graduated in 2022 from Stanford University, where she studied electrical engineering. Though she has not formally studied art in a university setting, she has been painting her whole life and has always found artistic inspiration in her communities. A Telugu-American woman, Akireddy is interested in complicating what it means to be a diasporic artist and embraces multicultural identity, multidisciplinary thought, and questioning the labels imposed on artists.