Laxmipriya Panigrahi’s landscapes invite us into a world of seeking, wandering, and discovery. Her recent solo show, ‘Untethered Cartographies’, offered a glimpse into the vast expanse of her dreamlike visions. Each of her large-scale watercolour paintings serve as a portal into her subconscious, weaving together memories of the lush forests of Balasore, Odisha, her experience of the forests and urban sprawl of Delhi, with an introspective journey that continues to unfold. We connected with her over a Zoom call, where she greeted us from her studio in Greater Noida, and explored the layers of her deeply psychological and immersive works.

Laxmipriya Panigrahi, A dance of light-II, 2020, Watercolour on organic paper. Courtesy of the Artist and Anant Art.

Panigrahi’s paintings are more than just landscapes; they are an extension of her gaze, meticulously composed, with fine brushstrokes, yet spontaneous in spirit. Each brushstroke builds an intricate ecosystem, where light, land, and sky dissolve into one another, invoking both curiosity and emotional depth.

There is a profound sense of mystery in her work, as if she is capturing fleeting moments of discovery, like stumbling upon a hidden lake in a dense forest, or witnessing the golden glow of dusk settling over the horizon.

Her canvases pulse with a magical realism, where nature’s grandeur coexists with the deeply personal.

Laxmipriya Panigrahi, Divine Comfort, 2024, Watercolour on paper. Courtesy of the Artist and Anant Art.

Trained in the miniature painting tradition and influenced by Pattachitra, Panigrahi’s practice takes a vastly different approach. 

Her process is more like that of a sculptor. She begins with the colours of the sky, layering pigments until the composition is enveloped in deep black. 

In this darkness, she listens patiently, allowing forms to emerge and reveal themselves. The sheer intricacy of her pieces demands an extraordinary level of patience, with each painting taking nearly one and a half months to complete. Through this meditative process, she breathes life into landscapes that seem to emerge from her subconscious mind.

Laxmipriya Panigrahi, Imitation of Sounds from Nature, 2023, Watercolour on paper. Courtesy of the Artist and Anant Art.

Nature plays a pivotal role in Panigrahi’s practice, not merely as a subject, but as a gateway to spiritual reflection.

Her travels to Rishikesh and Haridwar have shaped how she sees the mystical in the everyday. A simple moment—light catching the cascading water of a waterfall to create a rainbow—becomes a moment for quiet revelation, a reminder of the powerful forces shaping our world. Her paintings bring these fleeting wonders to life, turning nature itself into a kind of mythology.

Laxmipriya Panigrahi, Divine Path, 2024, Watercolour on paper. Courtesy of the Artist and Anant Art.

One of the most striking elements of her work is the absence of a central protagonist. Trees, rivers, celestial bodies—each exists in quiet conversation with the other, as if nature itself has stepped into the role we so often assign to human figures. Traces of habitation linger: an abandoned home, a site of worship, clothes left out to dry. It seems that in the absence of humans, the land breathes differently. The flora stretches, untethered, reclaiming space.

Laxmipriya Panigrahi, Energy of the Elements, 2024, Watercolour on paper. Courtesy of the Artist and Anant Art.

Even in her self-portraits, she is almost imperceptible—tucked into the folds of the landscape, waiting to be found. 

Spend long enough playing hide and seek with her paintings, and you might catch a glimpse: a small figure at the edge of a riverbank, half-lost in foliage, in quiet communion with the vastness around her. The scale of the world she paints does not center her. It makes her neither smaller, nor larger than the scene unfolding around her. The composition becomes a stage, the land its only performer, illuminated by her gaze.

Laxmipriya Panigrahi, Spirit’s Dance With The Elements, 2024, Watercolour on paper. Courtesy of the Artist and Anant Art.

It is only when you step closer that the spectacle reveals itself. These paintings demand intimacy, a willingness to linger. Suddenly, a winged monkey flits through the trees, an orb of foliage hovers midair, a species of deer appears—one you cannot name, one that may not exist at all. Chimeras of the imagination, slipping between the familiar and the fantastical.

Laxmipriya Panigrahi, Beautiful things don’t ask for attention, 2020, Watercolour on paper. Courtesy of the Artist and Anant Art.

Through her large-scale paintings, Panigrahi continues to establish herself as an artist who not only paints landscapes but maps the subconscious—charting the unseen, the in-between, and the ineffable.

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