Anugrah Mishra’s paintings meet the viewer with a heavy and lasting silence. Looking at the inner world of a person after movement, loss, and broken belonging, his work uses dark spaces, simple objects, turned-away figures, and careful light to create scenes where absence feels present.
The Unseen Guide – Krishna Archetype 2026. Acrylic and oil on canvas. 160 x 170 cm
His recent work shows a clear growth in his visual language. His earlier paintings stayed closer to the refugee crisis and its visible effects. His newer paintings move this concern into a more psychological and symbolic space. His use of Hindu archetypes and Jungian ideas gives the works more depth. Through them, he explores exile, endurance, moral pressure, and the search for inner safety.
The strength of these paintings comes from his use of everyday visual details. A chest, an empty chair, footsteps, fabric, a room, and a dry tree become active signs in the work. These elements do not explain the story. They build the emotional space and invite the viewer to read the hidden layers of the image. This helps the paintings move away from simple images of crisis and become more reflective.
Moral Integrity – Rama Archetype 2026. Acrylic and oil on canvas. 155 x 170 cm
Mishra has reached a strong level of unity in colour and composition. Dark grounds, deep blues, earthy tones, and small areas of light create a space between memory and dream. The large scale of the canvases adds to this feeling. The viewer does not only look at the image. The viewer enters the emotional space of the painting and slowly feels its weight.
Stolen Home – Sita Archetype 2026. Acrylic and oil on canvas. 155 x 170 cm.
The human figures in these paintings often hide their faces or stand away from the viewer. This choice keeps the emotions quiet and controlled. It allows the body, silence, and space to carry the meaning. This visual restraint is one of the strongest parts of his work, because it keeps the paintings away from easy sentiment.
Refugees – Resettlement 2024. Acrylic and oil on canvas. 170 x 180 cm.
Mishra’s symbolic language sometimes comes close to explaining too much. His mythic references can guide the viewer strongly. This can limit the freedom of interpretation. Still, his strongest moments happen when colour, light, composition, and the surface of the painting carry the meaning first. In these moments, the works show their deepest emotional and artistic power.
Refugees – Resilience and Dreams2024. Acrylic and oil on canvas. 200 x 250 cm.
Overall, Anugrah Mishra’s recent paintings show a serious and mature stage in his practice. He does not treat displacement only as a social subject. He turns it into an inner, moral, and psychological experience. Through dark spaces, controlled symbols, large scale, and human sensitivity, his paintings offer an image of pain, survival, and fragile hope. They move quietly, and they stay in the mind.
The Human Current – Jesus Green Lido mural documentation 1Public mural, Jesus Green Lido, Cambridge, 2025. Approx. 120 square metres total across exterior surfaces.
By Dr. Fatemeh Abdollahzadeh