“What about the phoenix?”
“She sits with me in the darkness. She whispers
we’ll rise. Just you wait”
- srwpoetry
Early years - Europe & India
Early in her career Santosh was awarded a fellowship in Printmaking by the Government of India that took her to Gerrit Rietveld Academie, Amsterdam for two years. She held solo exhibitions in Paris and Amsterdam and had the pleasure of exhibiting her prints in group shows in New York, Australia, UK and India. And was established and recognized as an artist with exceptional talent by the Cultural Department of Netherlands, before her return to India.
She has received many significant awards over the years - from the Indian Academy of Fine Arts (Hyderabad), College of Arts (New Delhi), the Andhra Pradesh Council of Artists (Hyderabad) and the prestigious Kala Shri Award from AIFACS in 1999, amongst others.
The shift to art education
Through the years while she continued creating art in mediums such as collage, acrylic and printmaking, she shifted her focus to art education due to personal reasons. Her prominent roles being Head Of Department, Arts, at DPS, Vasant Kunj, visiting lecturer at College of Art, Delhi, CBSE and NCERT Art Education Consultant on syllabus and an international judge chosen by Nokia Bangkok. She was also honoured with the B.C Sanyal award for lifetime dedication to Art & Education by Delhi College of Art, 2017.
Picking up the camera at 62 and exploring new media
After her retirement in 2012, Santosh found new life and energy and has been keenly exploring new mediums like Photography and Digital Art. Her success in these new fields was acclaimed when she received awards from AIIFACS in 2013 - for her photography work and in 2014 - for her Digital Landscapes. Her experiments in digital collages led to her solo art show titled ‘Amor Fati’ in Sept 2014, at Gallery Pioneer, New Delhi.
Combining her art ethos with contemporary medium
Besides group shows, in 2016, the year culminated with her solo show ‘Time frame/s – Digital Landscapes by Santosh Jain’, at the Art Heritage Gallery, New Delhi. Since then, consistently participating in various prominent fundraisers and group shows in Europe, UK, Delhi, Jaipur and Mumbai.
Jain created works in Mixed Media, Digital Landscapes and Linocuts during 2020 - her expression of the shared history and anxiety of the pandemic. The Lockdown Series were on view at the “Gaze, Reflect & Gather’ show at Tao Gallery, Mumbai in 2021. Followed by her solo show ‘She’s In The Streets, She’s In The Stars’ at The Method, Kala Ghoda, Mumbai, featuring her Charcoal Art, Mixed Media Art and Digital Landscapes.
Her latest Collagraphs were shown at the Biennale Internationale de la gravure (International Biennial of Engraving) in Sarcelles, France in Nov 2021 and 2023.
In 2023 Jain’s recent Photography Mixed Media work was shown at the India Art Fair in Delhi, at Stir, via The Method. Followed by a solo OVR ‘Pushing Boundaries’ on Terrain.art. Her latest Photography Mixed Media have been shown at Bikaner house with Gallerie Splash for the "‘Dialogues Of Being’ and ‘Telling Time Under The Soil’ group shows in 2022 and 2024.
In March 2025, her micro solo at Bikaner House, was part of ‘Desh Pardesh – At Home in the World’: A multidisciplinary art exposition curated by Engendered director & curator Myna Mukherjee.
An artist with many shades
Santosh continues to passionately create works in Acrylic on Canvas, Charcoals, Mixed Media and Photography Mixed Media in her studio in Vasant Kunj, New Delhi. She travels often and at home volunteers her time at the NGO Nai Disha, as Art Therapy teacher and the Skill Development Programme Head.
