PORTFOLIO
PILLARS OF LIFE (2018)
An illustrated book documenting 30 iconic trees native to the Western Ghats, through 80 illustrations of the tree form, leaves, flowers, fruit and seeds.
Proceeds go toward the Anamalai Rainforest Restoration Trust.
Authored by Dr Divya Mudappa and Dr TR Shankar Raman of the Nature Conservation Foundation
Botanical Illustrations by Nirupa Rao
5 additional sketches by Sartaj Ghuman
Foreword by noted environmentalist Pradip Krishen:
“I am particularly delighted to discover Nirupa Rao’s illustrations, which combine a beautiful lambent quality with what is obviously the result of careful study. Her rendering of light and texture and translucence is delicious! Botanic artists of this calibre are rare in this country, probably for the same sorts of reasons that we turn our backs on our indigenous plant wealth…”
“It’s taken almost two centuries for a Nirupa Rao to arrive on the scene to pick up the threads of their [19th c artists’] work and I won’t be at all surprised if she sets off a whole new trend in botanical illustration in India. I’m going to look out for her!”
