Arunima Chauhan

The Artist

Arunima Chauhan, part designer, part artist runs an Instagram handle called Pret-e Ribo, where she channels all her creativity. Pret-e-Ribo takes form the words Pret and ‘BORI’, the former translates to ‘ready to wear’ and the latter is the title of her graduation collection, which she described to me as ‘sustainable, raw and immoderate’. Further, talking about the nature of her work, she reveals, ‘From a person who loves minimal clothing to someone who started making bizarre artworks is what my work is all about. It reflects transition, desire, acknowledgement and restlessness.’

The Work

‘For most people, what they love to do for example their work, a project, a website or even a hobby becomes their baby. In my case, I am my art’s baby, I grew up and in fact I’m growing every day because of it.’ Arunima confesses.
Her art has a contemporary vibe to it and almost all her artworks start digitally. A closer look reveals a subtle connect between art and fashion, her two interests. She tells me that her art is reflective of the issues in Indian Society such as racism, inequality, shaming of any sort, rape, everyday issues and the beliefs and norms of Indian society. However, with the multitude of issues floating around, constantly and intentionally bringing our attention to these becomes a task, Arunima solves this through the use colour and words, making them relatable to us. This in turn, leads us to consume content and educate ourselves about someone else’s thought process and all her work, is a sum of her experiences. ‘I am an outcome of everything that I have seen and experienced in all these years. We’re all busy and we all want a sense of relating to something that works for us individually hence, most of my work is a reflection of what I feel, believe in and practise.’

She is also more process oriented than end product oriented. She derives joy from immersing herself in the process of creating an artwork, with the message that she intends to convey through it, at the forefront her mind. She reveals, ‘Even If I don't like the end product I end up uploading my work anyway because the only thing I keep in mind before starting is the message behind it.’

The Visual Style:

‘Neat, Captivating and Precise’ is how Arunima describes her current visual style. She also calls herself a minimalist, although being restricted by a visual style is the last thing she wants as a creative. She revels in her desire to explore and chance upon new ways of expressing and creating.

Thoughts on Art and Fashion:

‘Art and everything are connected hence, art and fashion are connected as well. From the most minimalistic to the most outranging fashion, art is present in every detail of the outfit.’

The Future:

When I ask Arunima, as to where she sees herself in the future, she nails the response in the most realistic way any artist I interviewed ever has. She says, ‘Five years back when I graduated, I sat down and worked on a neat timeline of everything I wanted to do and in how much time. Nothing went according to the ‘future planning’ and having this page was definitely not a part of my timeline and this is the best thing that has happened to me and also happens to be my most favorite thing about myself so I don't think I plan anything anymore. I just work and dream very hard and it comes back sometimes, sometimes it doesn’t and it's a learning in every way possible.’