Astha Butail

Born in 1977, Astha Butail received a Masters in Economics before she has a change of heart, enrolling into the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) in New Delhi in 2000. She graduated in Apparel Merchandising and Marketing in 2003 from NIFT, Bangalore. She has since worked for/with prominent international brands (Ann Taylor, Puma, Converse, Next) in diverse fields such as fashion design, merchandising and finally apparel marketing. In 2007, she moved entirely to the realm of art and design. She won the prestigious Elle EDIDA Award in the fabric category, a commissioned project for a hand bag store in Oosterhout,NL. In December 2007, she created a digital art poster in collaboration for the cause of AIDS for the UCLA Museum in California, showcased in Delhi. In April 2008, she worked on a collaborative project called Jealousy, at Victoria University in Melborne. Later, under the jealousy project, she created pieces for Elle’s Breast Cancer Charity. Since 2009 she has been busy traveling and working on shop gods, an on-going photography series. Between 2010 and 2012, she began an in-depth study of Vedic Sanskrit and Rig Vedic Hymns at the IGNOU University, from where she will receive a master’s degree later this year. Her ongoing project “ A STORY WITHIN A STORY”, is currently on view at The Devi Art Fondation, Gurgaon, curated by Raqs Media Collective.