Satyabhama
Majhi
Art can preserve memory, strengthen communities and create deeper relationships between people and the world they inhabit.
I am Satyabhama — an artist from Bhubaneswar, Odisha. My practice moves across painting, installation, sculpture and photography, but painting is where I feel most at home. Much of my work grows out of watching cities expand and landscapes change. Alongside my studio practice, I take on socially rooted projects that bring art into communities — using creativity as a way to listen, share and build something meaningful together.
Based in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India, I hold an M.F.A. in Traditional Art and have been working since 2000 across painting, sculpture, installation, photography, mixed media, public art, community art and art education — with a long-running enquiry into natural pigments, urban life, ecology and indigenous knowledge, including more than a decade alongside the Dongaria Kondh community of the Niyamgiri hills.
To use art as a medium for awareness, education, and empowerment — promoting sustainability through art, inspiring creativity that respects nature and humanity, and creating meaningful impact through research, collaboration, and community participation.
To build a compassionate and sustainable world where art, nature, and community thrive together — a future guided by creativity and strong values, where communities are empowered through art and knowledge while nature is respected and protected for generations to come.
- 2000
- M.F.A. in Traditional Art
- Bhubaneswar, Odisha
- Secretary, Sasatwa Foundation
2000 — Present
2021 – Present
Secretary & Community Director, Sasatwa Foundation
Leading large-scale ecological art installations, rural community workshops, school programmes and public wall murals across Odisha, alongside national curatorial platforms.
2015 – 2020
Unurbanisation Field Research & Painting Series
Travelling through rural Odisha, documenting landscape shifts, joining residencies and building mixed-media pigment portfolios that record ecological change.
2010 – 2014
Dongaria Kondh Engagement & State Recognition
More than a decade of work with the Dongaria Kondh community of Niyamgiri begins in earnest, alongside the Odisha Lalit Kala Akademi State Award in 2012.
2005 – 2009
Studio Practice, Public Art & National Scholarship
Early Unurbanisation canvases including Vision — 2040 and Hunger, and the National Lalit Kala Akademi scholarship in 2009 – 2010.
2000 – 2004
Beginnings and M.F.A. in Traditional Art
Professional activity begins in 2000, grounded in traditional art training, natural earth pigments and the motifs of Odisha.
Odisha Lalit Kala Akademi State Award
State honour for contemporary painting.
National Lalit Kala Akademi Scholarship
Awarded by Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi.
Creative methodology
Pigment Foraging
Gathering chalk stone, charcoal, turmeric, geru soil and brown stone from Odisha's riverbeds and forest terrain.
Medium Crafting
Grinding, purifying and blending natural binders, plant resins and tree gums using traditional preparation techniques.
Community Co-Creation
Inclusive workshops with village children, women's collectives and local artisans, recording oral histories as they go.
Public Installations
Turning pigments and shared stories into civic murals, gallery canvases and public installations.