Naina Somani

Title: They Saw Me Before I Saw the Architecture
Woodcut on Paper 38 × 29 inch
AWARD WINNER: Rs 50,000

Naina Somani is a printmaker, freelance artist, research scholar, and guest faculty based in Udaipur, Rajasthan. Born and raised in the culturally rich city, she draws inspiration from the interplay of tranquility and urban activity that shapes everyday life in Udaipur. She completed her Bachelor’s degree in Visual Arts and English Honours in 2018 and her Master’s in Visual Arts in 2021 from Mohanlal Sukhadia University. In 2023, she began her PhD at the same institution, where she also contributes as a guest faculty member.

Somani’s artistic practice emerges from attentive observation of her surroundings. The movement of the city, human interactions, and the rhythms of daily life inform the conceptual foundation of her work. Printmaking, particularly woodcut, forms the core of her practice, which she approaches as a meditative process of translating thought and emotion into visual form. Her works often explore the layered relationship between humans, nature, and the psychological landscape. She has participated in several national exhibitions and received recognitions including the Ravi Jain Memorial Award (2025) and the Lalit Kala Student State Award (2021).