About Nimisha Doongarwal

My work explores the layered nature of identity through the lens of migration, memory, and cultural inheritance. As an immigrant and woman of color, I use mixed media—combining traditional Indian textiles, archival imagery, painting, and printmaking—to examine how personal and collective histories are held in the body and passed down across generations. These works reflect the complexity of belonging in a globalized world, where home is often a fragmented space shaped by both ancestral roots and contemporary dislocation.
Visually and conceptually, I draw from South Asian craft traditions, mythology, and lived experience to question gender roles, cultural expectations, and systems of power. Rather than offering literal narratives, I build layered compositions where figures exist in a space between memory and myth—embodying strength, resistance, and transformation.
By reclaiming overlooked materials and symbols, I aim to reframe identity not as a fixed label, but as an evolving story. My practice resists the binary of East and West, past and present, sacred and secular—creating works that hold space for multiplicity. This is especially important for those of us whose stories are often underrepresented in dominant cultural narratives.
My work speaks to anyone navigating inherited expectations while carving space for autonomy. It is a visual call to remember, reimagine, and reclaim.
My works have been featured in many publications and magazines including Forbes, Suboart, Maake, and Artmarket magazine. Also, have exhibited at 80+ group and solo exhibits including the DeYoung Museum, SF International Airport, UCSF Hospital, San Mateo City Hall and Library, MONCA. Recently Icreated my first public art, San Francisco’s iconic Hearts sculpture.
Awards and Recognitions
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Heart in SF, Large Heart Artist 2024, Public Art, San Francisco CA
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Emerging Artist Series, Heckscher Museum of Art, USA
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Published in Forbes magazine, USA
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De Young Museum, The de Young open exhibition, San Francisco, CA
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Museum of Northern California, Safe Haven, Chico, CA
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Crocker Kingsley Competition, Blue Line Arts, USA
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Identity, Public Art, San Francisco International Airport Terminal 1
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San Francisco Women Artists Gallery, JUROR’S CHOICE for ‘FREE TO BE’, San Francisco
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Academy of Arts University, 3RD Place in Spring Show 2020
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www.lightspacetime.art, Special Recognition, 10th Figurative Art Exhibition
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www.lightspacetime.art, Special Recognition, “555 Special” Art Exhibition 2021
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Art.connects, Honorable mentions
Professional Activities
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Breaking a frame, ARTogether, Oakland, CA
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Artists' Exchange with Nimisha Doongarwal and Reiko Fujii, Gallery Route One, CA
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People of Udaipur- Painter from Udaipur, Udaipur Times, India
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Mixed media artist, Nimisha Doongarwal. (Kor.Sub), Mikihasi Gallery, CA
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Speaker at "Artist exchange" Gallery Route One, Point Reyes, CA
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Speaker at "Diasporic Futurism Part II" Rootdivision Gallery, San Francisco CA
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Speaker at "Home and Identity" Oakland Asian Cultural Center, Oakland CA
Membership and Affiliations
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NCWCA, Non-Profit organization, CA 2023
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AAWAA, Asian Women Artist Association, CA 2022
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Berkeley Art Center, Berkeley, CA, Art organization membership 2022
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ArtSpan, San Fransisco, CA, Artist membership 2021
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Arttogether, Non-Profit organization, Oakland, CA 2020
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San Francisco Women Artist Organization, Non-Profit organization, San Francisco, CA 2017
Selected Magazine features
Forbes Magazine, Maake Magazine, Artdose Magazine, Juniper Rag Magazine, Aesthetica Magazine, Sylph creatives Magazine India, Arc Gallery Magazine.
I have been on the front cover of ArtSeen Magazine and the back cover of Artmarket. Magazine. Articles published in San Leandro Times: Newspaper, Boomer Magazine UK, NBC live, Artmarket Magazine, Create Magazine and The FLUX Review.
Selected Solo Exhibits
San Francisco Airport Museum, San Mateo City Hall, San Mateo Library, Gallery Route One CA, Bayfair Center San Leandro CA.
Selected Group Exhibits
Prestigious De Young Museum in San Francisco, Museum of Northern California, Brown University, Blue Line Arts, Kala Art Institute Oakland, Arc Gallery, Oakland Asian Cultural Center, Youthforhumanrights.org, Bridgemaker Arts, University of the PacificArt, artagainstracism.org, Les Femmes Folles. I am a recurring juried-in artist at Root Division and San Francisco Women Artist gallery, Dab Arts, Vessel Gallery Oakland CA.