Sahana Mahadevan Paints the Snacks Her Parents Bring Her While She Studies

Most artists point to their most technically impressive piece when asked which one means the most. Sahana Mahadevan points instead to the one showing her at a desk covered in papers, a lamp bent low over her work, while her parents hover behind her with a snack and a glass of water.

"The piece depicting me studying while my parents offer me snacks and water feels especially personal to me," she says. "I think I really captured the warmth I feel when surrounded by family, and I get a little emotional when I think about all the sacrifices my parents have made for me to have a comfortable life and good education."

“I get a little emotional when I think about all the sacrifices my parents have made for me to have a comfortable life and good education.”

That pull toward family and quiet devotion runs through most of her work, even the pieces without a single figure resembling her own life. "Most of my creative inspirations come from the observable world around me, particularly the way beings interact with each other," she says. "I love sketching and painting the people I care about, and drawing people from different backgrounds. I especially like the themes of family and generational sacrifice."

Right now, though, nearly everything she paints answers to a panel she'll never meet in person. "Since I'm applying for college right now, most of my pieces from the past two years or so have been created for a portfolio that will be extensively critiqued by a panel of judges," she admits. The work she makes purely for herself lives in a different register entirely, and rarely carries any of that generational weight. "I do occasionally create for myself, but those pieces are nearly always digital and never have a deeper meaning to them. When I create for my own enjoyment, I usually sketch things I find physically appealing or cool, such as action scenes, interesting-looking or pretty people, or cute birds."