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I Love Your Stories is a soulful conversation series hosted by artist and creative guide Hava Gurevich, where art meets authenticity. Each episode invites you into an intimate dialogue with artists, makers, and visionaries who are courageously crafting lives rooted in creativity, purpose, and self-expression.
From painters and poets to healers and community builders, these are the stories behind the work—the moments of doubt, discovery, grief, joy, and transformation. Through honest, heart-centred conversations, Hava explores how creativity can be both a healing force and a path to personal truth.
If you’re an artist, a dreamer, or someone drawn to a more intuitive and intentional way of living, this podcast will remind you that your story matters—and that the act of creating is a sacred, revolutionary act.
[MUSIC]
Welcome back to All of Your Stories.
I'm your host, Tava Gurvitch,
and today I'm joined by
Mumbai-based artist, historian,
curator, and entrepreneur, Dr. Archana.
From sketching in the
margins of her history textbooks,
to building a career dedicated to both
creating and championing art,
Dr. Archana's path has
been shaped by spirituality
and a deep connection to
India's cultural traditions.
In our conversation, we explore the
inspiration behind her work,
how she translates ancient wisdom into
contemporary visual language,
and her mission to keep traditional
artistic and cultural knowledge
alive for future generations.
We also discuss creativity, authenticity,
and the role artists can play as bridges
between the past and the present.
Help me in welcoming Dr.
Archana to this episode.
Now, quick word from our sponsor, and
then we'll get right back to the show.
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art, I had absolutely no idea
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a professional business.
And then I came across art storefronts,
and that was a game changer.
I've been a customer now for years,
and they've been instrumental every step
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I have marketing tools and
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Check them out, artstorefronts.com and
tell them how I sent you.
OK, welcome back to all of your stories.
And my guest today is Dr. Archana.
She's an artist, historian, curator and
entrepreneur based in Mumbai, India.
Her work draws on Indian history,
philosophy and spirituality,
transforming complex ideas
into powerful visual stories.
Alongside her artistic practice, she
founded Artsage and Le
Tresor's Art Gallery,
initiatives dedicated to supporting
artists and fostering cultural dialogue.
I'm so excited to learn more
about your creative journey
and the ideas that continue to guide you
in your life and your work.
Welcome to this episode.
Thank you. Thank you so much, Awa, for
this lovely introduction.
So in fact, I'm Dr. Archana Chivasdwa.
I am an artist first
and then an entrepreneur.
And I am founder of
Artsage, which backs or supports
Indian traditional tribal and folk art.
I'm also a founder of Le Tresor, which is
a physical art gallery located in Mumbai.
And it's it's about contemporary art.
So my journey is very interesting.
I'm a professional
artist and self taught artist.
Painting runs in my blood.
My elder sister is a trained artist and
she's too good at it.
She's she and my mother
are my first teachers.
But, you know, I pursued academics
instead of joining an art school, because
I thought art can be
practiced side by side.
So with that idea, I did
not join any formal school
because training was
already there at home.
And I started scribbling on whatever
surface I could get,
like walls or tables.
And my parents, the
amazing parents, they could
they could see the potential in me.
And I still remember they would take me
to all the competitions,
district level competition, national
level competitions of art.
And I would get first prize medal there.
And my elder sister was there
to look up to in this field.
So later on, when I was deciding my part,
I chose history as my subject.
And I am from Manaras Hindu University,
which is a known university in India.
And it is known for its
study on culture,
history and rich heritage.
So I did my graduation from
there and I chose this subject,
ancient Indian history,
culture and archaeology.
It fascinated me.
And, you know, while I was
pursuing my history by subject,
I would always, you know, on my practice
register or notebook,
you would see last few pages, I'd be
sketching something.
Whenever I'll get tired of studying,
by the way, I was a
very studious student.
So when whenever I would get tired of
studying, I'll sketch something
on the back last few
pages of my notebook.
And at times, very
interestingly, it would happen.
Those sketches would outnumber the
written pages or academic writings.
So I was so passionate about it.
But it used to be a
therapy for me, a hobby for me.
And after I got married, I had my home
and I would hang my
paintings all over the house.
And my guests and my relatives who would
visit us, they would say, Arjuna,
you need to take it up
seriously, professionally.
Why don't you hold an
exhibition of your own?
And with that idea in 1999, I
I exhibited in my first
solo exhibition in Mumbai,
Nauru Centre, to be precise.
And in fact, famous artist Emma Fusen,
if you have heard of me, famous India,
heard of him, famous Indian artist,
Mr. Emma Fusen, B. Prava,
she was she's no more now.
She used to be a renowned artist
internationally also.
And in our circuits, she
used to be a renowned artist.
And I used to look up to them and they
agreed to inaugurate
and visit my exhibition.
So it was very encouraging.
And secondly, there I received many
praises about my work.
And, you know, when you are holding a
solo show, you are deliberately
exposing yourself to criticism.
It's better to it can be it
can make you it can break you.
So first response by the
grace of God was very good.
First exhibition, the response to my
first exhibition was so good.
Media covered it very extensively.
Visitor wise, also,
footfall was very high.
And everybody was really
praising my style and my works.
So I thought I was very encouraged.
And after that time, I'd
never looked back as an artist
because God was kind.
So this is how if you are talking about
my journey as a as a gallerist,
then I can tell you about that.
Also, if you want to break the question,
then I can read for you.
You to answer that.
Well, before you go forward, I want to
just follow up a couple of questions.
So you said what you were studying is
history and culture,
specifically of
Indian history and culture.
And at the same time, in
the back of those notebooks
or the last few pages,
you were doing sketches.
I'm curious from the start, what like,
what was the subject of your sketches?
What kind of sketches were they?
And then when you did start making art
and hanging it first in your home
and then the exhibition, was
it what kind of art was it?
Yes, yes, yes.
In fact, it had always been figurative.
And I would say I used to draw figures in
still life when I was a hobby painter.
So it would be very realistic, very
proportionate and all.
So it was figurative.
First of all, it was not abstract.
And definitely the
theme would be spiritual.
I'll tell you
something about my background.
My parents are very
religious and spiritual
and we used to get
various spiritual magazines
which would be having vivid
portrayal or illustration,
you can say, on very themes.
And I think that
etched deeply on my heart.
And that is something
which I still carry.
So those to, you know, you won't
understand my language Hindi,
it used to be called Kalyan.
So those magazines, my
parents would subscribe.
And as soon as the new
edition would come, I'll grab it.
I won't understand the philosophy of it
because Indian philosophy,
Hindu philosophy is very deep.
But I would just, you know, try to have a
look at the pictures which were,
which have come the images
and that remained with me.
And because of that, you know,
people say, why is spiritual?
Because something you feel very strongly
about comes out very
naturally on the canvas.
It connects the viewers.
So one reason is that second reason is I
had been visiting various,
you know, spiritual organizations and
there something called preaching
happens preaching means you tell these
that the philosophy through words.
So I said, I have this tool of forms,
colors, shapes and canvas and brush.
Why do I do it through art?
So I call it though it's a very strong
word preaching, but it's a takeaway.
If you want to take that
video, don't take that.
If you don't want to take
that, you don't take that.
Just enjoy the art pieces.
And one thing is that I try to make it
aesthetically appealing so that even
if you are not interested in, you know,
understanding the philosophy behind it,
I my idea is at least, you
know, it is it is pleasant.
So as as somebody who will come and look
at your exhibition, for example,
and they don't know anything about you,
they don't know anything about your
or what motivated you, what inspired you.
They're just looking at the art.
What would you?
Ideally, what would
you want them to feel?
How would you want them to feel?
I would want them to
hear what it's nothing like.
They are free to
interpret it in their own way.
And, you know, in my paintings, I would
have a small write up
besides my painting, though many senior
artists advised me against it.
They said that art should be interpreted
through the viewers.
You should not bind them with your own
with their own thoughts.
Fair enough. But my purpose is different.
I am trying to give a
deeper message to the society.
So I said that I take
art as preaching also.
And though it's a strong word and people
might take it otherwise.
But in here in Vedic philosophy,
preaching is service.
Preaching is the
essence of spiritual life.
So it might sound very strong and very
authoritative to the
outsiders, but within India or those who
follow certain religious tenets,
it's called service.
So it's my service to learn.
I'm trying to give this message through
forms, colors, shapes and all.
So this is, you know,
wish that my voice is
heard through my artworks.
That is what I would say.
I would say I agree with you.
I do as well like to add a
little bit of interpretation
or like sort of at least like what I
wanted to convey with my art.
Not necessarily because I don't want them
to understand it in any other way,
but because I too use my art
as a form of communication.
And a lot of it is open to
interpretation, but sometimes it's nice
to hand the viewer like at least a map,
you know, a little map.
And say, these are the
ideas that I'm looking at.
Here you go.
You are a contemporary artist and your
work is sounds to me like it's a
contemporary kind of continuation of a
very, very long tradition of visual art.
And my understanding is that
championing culture and especially
traditions that are kind of
being forgotten in the modern age is
something that you're
very passionate about.
Yes, I say to everyone that if our own
Asian traditions, history and culture
contained therein is not preserved,
we'll use our
identity, we'll use our words.
So I always feel that it needs to be
conveyed or preserved and
presented before the younger generation,
but it needs to be repackaged also
because younger generation Gen Z
especially is not interested in those old
types of, you know, types of words and
philosophy which lies there in they
need it, but they don't want to hear the
way we have heard it from our parents
and elders. So the entire thing, some of
my paintings, which are portrayed on,
you know, very timeless
text called Bhagavad Gita.
If you have heard of Gita in that's a
very famous text, you know,
everybody has heard at least about
Bhagavad Gita or Gita.
So in fact, some of my works, which look
very, very, very contemporary,
but they have three or two slokas or
verses of Gita, which is written in
ancient language called Sanskrit.
Even half of people, more than half of
people of my generation also don't
understand Sanskrit here.
So those, so I try to repackage it in the
contemporary context and try to
try to present it to
the audience or viewers.
So if you see later on, if you can have
browse through my website, there is a
painting with puppets called, there is
one painting called the Caged Bird.
The Caged Bird also is about, you know,
soul being entrapped in this body like
cage, because I always
feel we are the spirit soul.
We are not this body.
Body may perish in a certain birth and it
will have a rebirth or reincarnation,
but soul continues.
So there I tried to portray that this
soul is entrapped in a cage, in the
cage of body, and once it is at the time
of birth, it is released.
But the catch is if it gets released, the
bird gets released at the time of
death, it will get entrapped in some
other cage, means in some other body.
The whole idea of Vedic philosophy or
Hindu philosophy is to get rid of this
earth and death cycle and
to attain the ultimate bliss.
Yeah.
Yes.
Yes.
I see you and your work as a kind of
bridge between ancient traditions and
ancient sort of the whole culture and the
visual history and the Gen Z
generation or the new generation.
You're sort of like taking all these
ideas and almost like translating them
into a visual language, that generation
that's, you know, like that grows up on
digital, on social media and surrounded
with everything that's here now, but can
still, the visuals might be a little
different, but the story remains.
The story is there.
You know, you're part of that tradition.
I mean, I think we all notice how
important it is to preserve the culture
but I would love to hear it from you.
Like in your words, why do you feel it's
so important to preserve this for the
generations?
Yes.
In fact, how you worded it very perfectly
that I'm trying to translate that old
wisdom, ancient wisdom
through the visual language.
This is very correct.
And these texts do not pertain to any
particular faith, set, religion or
belief. They talk about something which
is universal, like soul, like karma,
like reincarnation, all the faiths, most
of the faiths agree with reincarnation
or you can say, soul's journey.
So this pertains to entire mankind.
So as I say, you know, preserving culture
and tradition is important from the point
of view of not losing your roots.
If roots are lost, you are lost.
Secondly, they, you know, history,
studying history or
taking history seriously, at
least is important because if we don't
know where we are coming from, we won't
know where we are heading to.
So it's very important to
know where we are coming from.
Secondly, we learn
from our past mistakes.
We try to avoid it in future.
We should carry on the practice which was
successful in the previous times.
And, you know, that is why even in
today's time, yoga is
so, so much appreciated.
Yoga is ancient wisdom only.
When we lost it, we would have lost very
important, beautiful aspect of life.
So and yoga doesn't only pertain to body,
pertains to mind also.
Yoga means in
Sanskrit, it's a Sanskrit word.
Yoga is a Sanskrit word meaning the
joining, the connection.
So when your mind, body and soul are
connected beautifully,
your life is beautiful.
So that's why I think it's important to
maintain the culture
or preserve our culture.
Yeah.
So I know you have two foundations.
One of them is?
Artsy.
Artrage only.
Do you want to talk about that?
Yes.
In fact, my artist's career was
proceeding and I was kind
of complacent and satisfied
with it, you know, maintaining the
academics and family
life and social life.
Whatever I could do,
I was happy with that.
But then then the
pandemic came, it is struck.
And I thought that I'm very fortunate to
be not living solely
on my on my earnings or
sales through the painting.
But there are some tribal folk and
traditional artists who might be
suffering because that
time the market was low.
Nobody was buying the artworks.
Everybody was trying to save life.
So with that idea, I started it as a
charitable initiative,
art sage, and I banked or
supported tribal folk and
traditional art of India.
I tell you, it's so rich.
You need to, you know, visit India to
understand what our
ancestors were practicing.
These paintings, these artworks are
priceless and Indian art,
Indian ancient Indian folk
art, traditional art and tribal art for
that matter is very rich.
So I thought these these
artists should be supported.
This art should be preserved.
And certain art forms are practiced by
only a few families
left now to practice that.
So I thought if out of sheer financial
distress, they are they leave it, it
would be it would be a huge
misfortune.
Huge loss.
It is unfortunate.
And I started art siege with that idea.
Response was overwhelming.
And it was an online
platform, digital platform.
And we had presence on all
the e-commerce platforms.
Then I was selling their artworks and
proceeds were going to them.
But then I thought,
why not contemporary art?
Because that also needs support here,
because in India, we are
many numbers and there are
many art schools producing beautiful, you
know, producing very talented artists.
But the consumer or the,
you know, buyers are limited.
So there is more supply than demand.
And that is why even contemporary art
art, I thought, needed support.
And I myself am a contemporary artist.
I know the struggles of
a contemporary artist.
You are a contemporary artist.
You must be knowing how it feels when you
see the blank canvas and
something is here in your
mind and you are unable to portray that.
So it is a challenge.
And these artists painstakingly do it.
And when they are they don't have enough
platforms to showcase their work.
So naturally they feel
disheartened and their work suffers.
So with that idea, I started this
contemporary art
gallery called L'Etriseau.
It's a you must I would say everybody
says that it's a beautiful art gallery.
So we are showcasing right from masters,
Indian masters to
established senior artists
to emerging voices.
So this is how it is going.
So I see you as a spiritual teacher, an
artist, a historian, a
preserver of culture, a
champion of ancient traditions and also
as a gallerist and a
champion of contemporary
Indian artists with all of those things.
How would you define success right now
and how has it changed for you over time?
Success is making a small positive impact
and that whenever I see that, you know,
be it in the life of
my own driver or somebody who works for
me for his son, it gives
me happiness and I feel I'm
successful.
That is how I define success.
And by the grace of God, so far, the
journey had been very beautiful and
challenges were there.
But God takes care of me.
If you if you were to give advice to a
young contemporary artist,
what advice would you give?
My advice would be, in
fact, be yourself, first of all.
Don't jump to the trends and all, because
so many times I see it around me, artists
get disheartened, their
style is not being accepted and they
switch to some other style and there lies
a bigger challenge because they
were on the verge of getting accepted
because you have to keep showing it in
volume to get accepted.
They change then then
the whole problem begins.
And then in the beginning also, I had
said that what you feel very strongly
about comes out very naturally on
the canvas.
It connects to the viewer.
So be yourself.
Whatever, you know, that is why I did not
I could have put I have made paintings in
the early part of my
career on current issues and all that.
I felt very strongly about that.
But then I I I asked myself what what
gives me most what gives me happiness?
What makes me most happy?
So with that idea, I found that if I'm
conveying whatever I have understood and
I have benefited from, if I'm
sharing it with the word
that gives me more happiness.
So be yourself.
That is my advice to
the contemporary artists.
I love that that don't be discouraged if
what you're doing is not understood or
accepted or you don't have a
wide audience yet.
Keep going because
that's your true voice.
And if you if you decide instead to
follow trends, you're not being true to
yourself and you're just
competing with like 10,000 other voices
who are following the same trend.
And the worst part is that the world
doesn't get to hear your true voice.
And you don't know what your contribution
is if you don't follow
through with your voice.
Absolutely, absolutely agree.
So true.
So and I see
beautiful artworks behind you.
That's your artworks.
Lovely.
They are.
Thank you.
It is kind of something that I do feel
very passionately about is
this idea of following your own
passion, following the thing that you are
most passionate about.
And with that, I'd love to ask you, what
are you most passionate about right now?
As a Galerist, a few
projects which are coming up.
We are trying to bring in the
international artists and national
artists of repute or even the
emerging voices together.
That is exciting me and I'm very
passionate about it.
Certain charitable options where I think
we would be helping people.
And as an artist, I would say I have, you
know, when you are 2D and
you are painting, you are
rendering through brush and colors, the
automatic in the journey, it
automatically happens.
You try to go 3D.
So I with that idea in 2023, my artworks
included installations also.
And through those installations, I tried
to portray the deep
message of Gita and Vedic
literature.
So my question right now is to have a
kind of a section in
museum or all these, you know,
national galleries where I can portray
whatever is there in my
mind through installations.
Yeah.
So installations are my question and how
to portray through some
other medium, some other, you
know, channel, whatever is there in me.
Yeah.
So it sounds like the voice or the
message that's coming through
you that you've been sharing
through drawings and paintings is now
asking for even more.
It wants more space.
It wants three dimensional space.
It wants to be experienced.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's amazing.
I'm going to have in the notes links to
all the various like to
your art, to galleries.
I know you had a TED talk and I'll have a
link to that as well.
And I know you're on Instagram because we
just connected on Instagram.
I know there's like a 12, 12 and a half.
12 hours and 30 minutes
time difference between us.
So I really appreciate you staying up
late for this conversation.
If you have, do you
have any like final words?
Final words should be, you know, follow
your passion, be yourself.
Because I already said I'm just summing
it up and, you know,
be kind to each other.
I think that's the
message I want to give.
And secondly, about
art, this podcast is cast.
This podcast is about art.
I would like to say that.
At least develop an appreciation for art.
If if you have children, if you have if
you are a teacher, you
know, a cat is one part of life.
If your child, if somebody in your family
can't make good art, can't sing well,
but I'm talking about performing art, at
least our effort should be.
He or she should be able to appreciate
art, be performing art, be visual art.
Why? Because these are
finer aspects of life.
And if you are not appreciate, we are
unable to appreciate it or get it.
I think we are deprived of
something very beautiful in life.
I love that you said that.
And it reminds me of a conversation that
I had with a couple of friends.
And we were talking about creativity and
how we express our creativity.
And my friend is she loves art.
She is a consumer of art.
She loves to go to see theater.
She loves to see to listen to music.
She loves to go to the museum.
She loves to be surrounded with art.
She herself is does not make art, but she
the way she expresses her creativity
is by being surrounded
with it and being a consumer.
And to me, I think that's a beautiful way
to complete the cycle
because or close the cycle,
because as an artist, as a visual artist,
I am communicating
through visual language.
And communication is a two
person like communication.
Somebody has to say it.
Somebody has to receive it in order for
the message to come through.
And so, yeah, I am right there with you
that appreciation of
art is just as important,
if not more.
Oh, yes, I always say because, you know,
I always say it's very important to have
art galleries which are not very
intimidating because here in
India, there are national art
galleries.
They are huge.
There is a decorum to
be maintained there.
There are standalone art galleries also
which carry which, you
know, maintain some decorum.
Art has to be free flowing.
That is why my art galleries situated in
a very upmarket mall.
It's a mall.
Anybody can walk in.
Why?
Because, you know, half of the people
don't understand art
because they are not exposed
to art.
And because these art galleries, national
museums are
intimidating, they don't step in.
They say that art is not my cup of tea.
Just make it more accessible.
More exposure will
lead to more awareness.
More awareness will lead to more
appreciation because more
you see it, more you understand
how we understand classical music.
Some people don't.
Some people do because
they were exposed to it.
So more exposure will
lead to more awareness.
More awareness will lead to more
appreciation and more
appreciation will lead to more
empowerment of art.
And I think in that way, that philosophy
of yours is another
way that you're acting as
a bridge between the tradition and in
modern times because I
feel like art was something
that was lived with more holistically,
historically, because
that's all there was.
That's how people communicated.
It's not like you had the art museum and
then you had cinema and TV and magazines.
Everything visual was
communicated through art.
And so it was something that everybody
was exposed to all the time.
And it was lived.
Something that it's who you are, that
part of the living tradition.
And it sounds to me like while your art
itself is hoping to bring
that message to the young
generation, your other activism, the
galleries and the
foundations that you founded are there
to bring the whole cultural experience of
appreciating art to a new generation that
sees it as something that's up there and
you have to like, you
know, they're gatekeepers
and you need to like know something and
speak the right language or have a
certain understanding
in order to be part of that.
And you don't.
It's part of everybody.
It's all of our shared tradition.
It's all of our history.
And that's such a beautiful message.
Definitely.
You spoke so well about all these things.
I fully agree with you.
So it is from an artist to an artist.
That is why we are
striking the coin like this.
Yes.
Thank you so, so much.
This was a wonderful conversation.
I really appreciate you taking the time.
Thank you so much for having me.
I really enjoyed my
conversation with you.
And the fact that you are also an artist
really made things easy for me.
And I'm grateful that
you invited me for this.
I am too.
I am too.
Thanks again for tuning in.
That's our episode.
I hope you enjoyed it.
And if you did, please help us out by
leaving a review, a
comment, subscribing, sharing it
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artstorefronts.com and sign up for a demo.
They'll give you a free art review and a
marketing assessment of your
art to show you exactly what's
possible.
So go to artstorefronts.com, tell them
how I've sent you, and I'll
catch you on the next episode.