Tarini Sethi (b 1987, India) creates work that focuses on themes of world building, mythology, folk stories, dream worlds and sexual emancipation. Created in direct response to my understanding of declining mental health, skepticism of current political discourse, dread of communalism, and distress at the destruction of the natural world, I attempt to make art that defies these realities. Her subjects –some quite human, some quite animal, but none clearly one or the other – fight and ponder, observe and converse, love and luxuriate, often within labyrinthine physical spaces and multi limbed anthropomorphic anatomies. In this world, bodies are freed from the ideas attached to the conventional notion of gender, perfection and beauty. As a woman from India, existing in a space of extreme sexual oppression, and constant scrutiny, I try to focus as much as possible on the idea that bodies can exist as perfect vessels for exploration, action and sexual emancipation. Taking cues from a range of artistic practices spanning the length of the subcontinent, specifically Kalighat, Miniature, Kavad and Tholu Bommalata, she uses these themes and ideas to bring my utopia to life. These themes are explored through a multimedia practice that includes paintings, drawings, and metal sculptures. Sethi currently lives in New Delhi, India.