Bio: Shanny Kohli is a self-taught visual artist based in Durham, North Carolina, where she lives with her husband and three sons. She was born in New Delhi, India but spent most of her childhood in Kuwait. She fled Kuwait with her family during the Iraqi invasion in 1990 and resettled in Iran and India for two years. Eventually, she moved with her family to Dubai, UAE, where she spent her young adult life. Shanny attended the American University of Sharjah, where she earned a bachelor’s in Visual Communications. She worked as a graphic designer in Kuwait for a few years with various international advertising agencies before immigrating to the United States in 2009.

Shanny explores everyday life in a Sikh diasporic household employing visual methodologies to create artwork based on her multicultural background and immigrant experience to explore identity, inequality, injustice and belonging. The various elements in her pieces create a conduit between Punjabi cultural tradition and the regeneration of reimagined stories that unfold to express her ancestral spirit.

Shanny had her first solo exhibition featured at Golden Belt Gallery in Durham in 2021. The collection, titled “Exploration of Sikhi,” explored Sikh tenets, which underscore equality, fighting against injustice and uplifting our fellow humans in need, through contemporary interpretation. Her work has also been featured at Durham Art Guild, VAE Raleigh and Art Space Raleigh and in Durham Magazine https://durhammag.com/artist-shanny-kohli-raises-cultural-awareness-through-her-work/Additionally, Shanny has been interviewed by Canvas Rebel (https://canvasrebel.com/meet-shanny-kohli/) and by ABC 11 News. In 2024, Shanny received the Betsy Sykes Award as the juror’s top pick at the Raleigh Fine Arts Society North Carolina Artists Exhibition for her piece titled “Sharks – Anti-bullying” (https://ralfinearts.org/nc-artists-exhibition-enter/#). Her artwork was selected out of over 1100 submitted pieces and was displayed at the Contemporary Art Museum in Raleigh during the fall of 2024. Shanny was also selected by the JLF (Jaipur Literature Festival) team to be the featured artist for JLF NC-2025.

Artist Statement: I am a Durham based visual artist. My creative practice explores the complex, dualistic landscape of the human experience through works on paper and digital media. Using watercolor, gouache, acrylic, ink, and hand-ground earth pigments, I navigate the interplay of design, color, form, and narrative. My work captures the simultaneous impressions of fear and anxiety alongside togetherness and happiness. These emotional layers reflect both personal and collective belonging, digging into the intricacies of identity and memory.Rooted in the daily rhythms of a common Sikh household, my art uplifts minority narratives by highlighting both our cultural struggles and our shared humanity. Visually, my pieces are driven by geometric and biomorphic shapes. These forms are directly inspired by the rich history of textiles and embroideries from undivided Punjab.I am drawn to watercolor for its fluid, unrestrictive nature, which allows stories to evolve organically across the page. By contrasting this fluidity with structured patterns and raw, self-made earth paints, I create a visual dialogue between tradition and the present. Ultimately, my family and children fuel this daily exploration, motivating me to ground abstract memories into tangible visual storytelling.

I am grateful to be a part of the artist community in North Carolina.