THE MEDITATIVE PRACTICE BETWEEN PRESENCE AND TRACE BY DAMINI YADAV
@DaminiYadav
In a practice that gently dissolves the boundaries between self and environment, artist, writer, and curator Damini Yadav invites us into an evolving conversation between the personal and the planetary. Currently based in Milan, Italy, Yadav’s multidisciplinary work, spanning painting, collage, environmental installations, and performance, emerges from a richly layered cultural journey: born in India, raised in Malawi, and shaped by studies in Bangalore and Milan.
At the heart of her practice lies a profound sensitivity to material language and the quiet power of process. Whether she’s building liquescent layers of pigment on canvas with her hands or composing site-responsive performances guided by intuition, Yadav’s work becomes, in her words, “a moving prayer” - an intimate ritual that channels something beyond the self.
“I hope my work evokes a sense of quiet intimacy, a kind of inward pause,” she shares. “A softness, but also an underlying tension between presence and absence, clarity and blur, fragility and resilience.”
This quiet tension becomes the pulse of her visual language, often merging abstraction with organic structures. Through layering, repetition, and subtle mark-making, her paintings invite viewers to slow down and listen to the silent dialogues within their own bodies and memories.
“I hope my work evokes a sense of quiet intimacy, a kind of inward pause.”
@DaminiYadav
@DaminiYadav
Her connection to materials goes beyond aesthetic choice - it is a deeply intuitive conversation with matter itself. Everyday elements like soil, clay, dust, and fabric become carriers of cultural memory and human touch.
“Working with clay feels like entering a dialogue with something ancient,” Yadav reflects. “These materials guide the work more than concept alone ever could.”
Such sensitivity echoes throughout her creative process. Her method is strikingly non-linear, built on fragments that coalesce into something larger only over time. In her performative and environmental projects, intuition replaces rigid planning, allowing the work to “become more than I had initially imagined, as if it has a life of its own.”
“Working with clay feels like entering a dialogue with something ancient. These materials guide the work more than concept alone ever could”
Ritual, too, holds a central place. Before beginning, she often sets an intention through prayer, and ambient or traditional Indian music becomes a backdrop to her process, leading her into a meditative state. Somatic exercises and moments of solitary reflection help her tune into emerging themes, which she then deepens through research - weaving the personal with broader ecological and cultural questions.
Beyond aesthetics, Yadav’s practice aspires to become what she calls “a quiet force.” Rather than spectacle, she seeks presence: a lingering invitation to reconsider our connection to the world and to each other.
“My greatest ambition is to create work that bridges the personal with the planetary,” she explains. “To hold space for emotions often unspoken, while confronting our role in the environmental crisis. In the end, I want my art to gently reorient how we see ourselves in relation to the world around us.”
In a cultural landscape often driven by speed and spectacle, Damini Yadav’s work stands as a patient counter current, asking us not only to look, but to feel, remember, and listen. Through her art, she reminds us that even the quietest mark can hold an echo of something larger: a shared story of bodies, earth, and the fragile threads that bind them.
@DaminiYadav
@DaminiYadav
Follow Damini’s work on Instagram at @daminie_011 and stay tuned for future features of Creative Intersect at @thecreativeintersect.
