Night Safari - "Two Elephants. Two Skies. One Continuous World."

Ramya Thattai

Night Safari - "Two Elephants. Two Skies. One Continuous World."

Medium - Tye-dye on muslin fabric and acrylic paint on canvas

Dimensions - 4feet / 2feet

Description of Artwork: NIGHT SAFARI

Day and Night Safari transforms an adolescent elephant and a calf into two interconnected landscapes, one inspired by daylight and the other by night. Theme is inspired by my two boys! Hand-dyed fabrics form atmospheric skies across which Madhubani-inspired animals and birds create an imagined safari rich with patterns and storytelling.

Bringing together the spontaneity of tie-dye with intricate Madhubani-inspired linework, the installation explores nature, motherhood, protection, and continuity across generations. The matriarch and calf inhabit different skies yet remain part of the same world, reflecting the rhythms that connect living beings across time, place, and generations.

NIGHT SAFARI is created on Muslin tied dyed fabric in predominantly purple and dark blue colors representing night sky, decorated with white, gold, pink, and turquoise floral and mandala-like motifs depicting stars and galaxies. A vivid folk-art-style hand painted canvas panel at the bottom on both sides shows a whimsical jungle-and-river scene with patterned animals, birds, fish, and lush vegetation, with an Elephant on one side depicting the importance of the species. Together, the painted fabric and illustrated border create a joyful, dreamlike celebration of nature, color, and pattern.

This drape is finished with up-cycled border and tassels to symbolize sustainability and care for our planet and life in it.

Price - $1500

Artist Statement

RAMYA THATTAI | HASYA ARTS

Contemporary Madhubani-inspired artist

https://www.hasyaarts.com
@hasya_arts (Instagram)

“Every stroke carries a story. Every pattern holds a connection.”

My art is rooted in memory, culture, and the enduring power of storytelling. For more than two decades, I have explored art forms from the Indian subcontinent, finding my strongest artistic voice in Madhubani, whose intricate lines, vibrant colors, symbolism, and visual storytelling continue to fascinate me.

While I draw inspiration from this traditional visual language, my work is deeply personal and contemporary. I use it to interpret the world around me and to connect heritage with lived experience.

TRADITION, REIMAGINED

Much of my work begins with a story: sometimes drawn from Indian mythology and cultural traditions, sometimes from nature, and often from the quiet complexities of everyday life. Themes of womanhood, empowerment, equality, motherhood, relationships, spirituality, and our connection to one another recur throughout my practice. As a boy mom, motherhood also gives me a deeply personal lens through which I think about nurturing, identity, strength, growth, and the world we create for the next generation.

My compositions are drawn freehand, without tracing, allowing the natural imperfections and asymmetry of the hand to remain part of the work. Intricate patterns and bold color transform those lines into layered narratives. I also enjoy moving beyond the conventional canvas, creating on paper, fabric, wood, terracotta, bamboo, and other surfaces so that the material itself becomes part of the story.

A LIFE ACROSS CREATIVE AND STRUCTURED WORLDS

My education in Fashion Design and Visual Communication gave me an early foundation in composition, color, form, and visual storytelling, while my studies in Project Management strengthened a parallel way of thinking rooted in structure, discipline, planning, and execution. Today, I also work as a technology leader, a world shaped by problem-solving, transformation, and people.

I do not see these creative and professional identities as separate. Each informs the other. Through Hasya Arts, I explore the space between tradition and evolution, Indian heritage and contemporary experience, preserving the spirit of an inherited art form while allowing it to speak in a voice that is distinctly my own.

I want the viewer to pause, look closer, discover the smaller stories within the larger image, and perhaps find something of their own experience within mine.

For me, creating art is ultimately an expression of joy.