Person with long dark hair and glasses, wearing a light-colored shirt, looking directly at the camera. Kunjan Thankey an artist creating naive and folk art that are visually poetic.

Kunjan Thankey is known for her expansive imaginative and intuitive practice that encompasses unconventional landscape paintings, works on paper, sculptures, installations, live events, and collaborative projects. Taken as a whole, her work shows a sustained emphasis on the idea of protopia and the desire to live in times of prosperity.

She has been interviewed on Radio BBC Coventry and Warwickshire for an ambitious bamboo art installation called The Harmony Project produced by Imagineer Productions (Coventry) and Cave Urban (Australia). Her artwork is exhibited in art museums, galleries, hospitals and can be found in public and private art collections both in the U.K. and abroad. She also works as a freelance artist.

Kunjan Thankey (b.1972, India) is a self taught artist living and working in the Midlands UK. Her family immigrated to the UK when she was two years old. During her years at university she dedicated her time to studying philosophy and environmental science, obtaining a MSc in Environmental Health. At the age of forty-five, she changed her career to focus on creating art with meaning, purpose, and vision. With 15 years of experience in local government, she had gained a diverse perspective on life's challenges and set an intention to advocate for a better world through actions, conversations and the creation of art. 

“My art process is one of exploration, discovery and mystery, during which I like to imagine the exciting prospect of living in protopian worlds that are in harmony with the natural environment.”

‘‘I create visually poetic landscapes with luscious layers of textured paint on the canvas. I use a unique combination of colours, patterns and sculptural brushstrokes to create an otherworldly feeling to my paintings. My process involves intuitively applying the paint onto the canvas in a state of flow and imagination. As I have no preconceived notion of how a painting will turn out an exciting new world emerges like a revelation.”

“A single work may take days, weeks or even years to reach what I consider completion. My creations are worlds that are peaceful, mysterious and show life forms that are deeply connected to each other. Some of these worlds may seem primitive and simple in nature but others can be advanced civilisations that live in prosperity with the natural world. My artwork represents a deeply held desire to advocate for a better world for all. In this, I find comfort, a sense of satisfaction and healing. It is in essence, a wish fulfilled through the act of creation.” Kunjan Thankey