American, b. Austin, Texas, USA 1977

Meena is a visual artist based in central Texas using charcoal, ashes, soil, and sumi ink to create paintings. She was born and raised in Austin by Indian immigrant parents, making art throughout life, finding her way to art school at The University of Texas at Austin where she earned her Bachelor of Arts in Studio Art in 2000. After living overseas for nearly a decade working with a non-profit, she returned to her hometown of Austin where she lives with her husband and 10 year old son, and enjoys working in her home studio. She uses ash, charcoal, soil, sumi ink, and wax to capture the human figure and portrait, incorporating realism and abstraction into her pieces. They tell the story of death giving birth to life and of grief and joy existing in the same space.

She has exhibited throughout the United States and her work is collected by a diverse group of people in the United States, Canada, and Europe including poet Cole Arthur Riley, and Elisa and Joel Sumner of Austin, Texas. Meena has been listed as an artist to notice in Jeanne Claire van Ryzin’s Sightlines Magazine and Austin Monthly Magazine, and has been featured in Voyager Houston, the Christians in the Visual Arts Seen Journal, and the Art and Theology blog. Her work has been used to accompany liturgy and worship for The Daily Prayer Project, Holy Cross Lutheran Church in St. Louis, Missouri, and Church of the Cross in Austin, Texas.