Priyanka K is an illustrator and visual storyteller from Kolkata, India.
She graduated with an MFA in Illustration Practice from MICA in 2020, and is currently a recipient of the Bromo Seltzer Artist Fellowship. She teaches at the undergraduate Illustration program at MICA part-time, and was recently appointed art director at the anthology South Asian Avant Garde. Her personal work spans across visual narrative, printmaking and murals.
:: An informal interview with Priyanka
What is your name?
Priyanka Kumar
What are your preferred pronouns?
She/Her
Where do you call home?
Kolkata, India
What is your program and year of graduation?
MFA Illustration Practice 2020
What inspired you to take the leap of going to graduate school?
I wanted to teach and gear my practice towards a more experimental approach to visual storytelling.
How has this scholarship impacted your thinking and process during your time in graduate school?
I've been able to move my personal practice towards more media-based exploration, like printmaking. Being a grad student at MICA also helped my personal approach to art-making and pedagogy evolve to focus on inquiry-based forms of creating.
What have you been working on? Share the driving questions and inspiration that informs your work as an artist, designer, educator and/or activist.
I received the Bromo Seltzer Studio Fellowship 2020-21 and have been using my time in my studio to work on visual narratives and sketchbook-based illustration. I've also been working on projects with other cohort members: Rebecca Marimutu and I are creating a publishing venture called Anchovy Press that makes illustrated children's books centering BIPOC+ experiences -- we're UpStart finalists this year!