Artist Bio

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Monika Kalra has been an artist since childhood. Growing up in Delhi in a family engaged in the clothing trade across the Indian subcontinent, she developed an early connection with creative expression. Over time, this evolved into a visual art practice grounded in abstraction, geometry, and contemplative inquiry.
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She has practiced spirituality with the Brahma Kumaris since 2001, beginning at a young age. From 2016 onward, she began translating her lived meditation experiences into visual form through oil on canvas and digital media. Her work explores the journey of focus within the human mind, unfolding across different meditative stages and emotional states. Through bold strokes, layered surfaces, and intricate color compositions, she expresses an evolving aesthetic that brings together inner stillness and free-spirited abstraction. Her style continues to mature through ongoing reflection and refinement.

Monika’s work has been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions across the United States, including New York City, Poughkeepsie, Saratoga Springs, the Hudson Valley, the Adirondacks and the Catskills in New York State; the Philadelphia region; and Miami and Naples, Florida, as well as internationally in London. Through her art, she invites viewers into a journey of inner transformation, self-discovery, and authentic artistic expression.

Her recent body of work, Rosary of Victory, explores the spiritual perspective of gaining victory over the self and has received growing recognition. In 2025, the series was selected by Harvard University for the Spirituality and the Arts Conference and by LABRC for the Sacred Arts Conference at Oxford University, reflecting its resonance within contemporary dialogues at the intersection of spirituality and art. The series spans multiple media, including oil and acrylic on canvas, as well as digital art, with select works incorporating Swarovski crystals to symbolize purity and inner clarity.

Earlier in her career, Monika trained in Fashion Design in Delhi and worked with major fashion houses in India and the UK. She later founded the artistic scarf brand Monaara, where she gained hands-on experience translating original artworks into digitally printed textiles and production-ready formats. This work involved close collaboration with printers, fabricators, and vendors to ensure fidelity of color, scale, and detail across materials.

Monika is currently a resident artist at Peace Village Learning and Retreat Center in New York State, where she creates from her studio and presents her work in a dedicated gallery space. Central to her practice is a purpose to use spiritual art and meditation as pathways for transformation, helping others experience spiritual wisdom not only as an idea, but as something they can personally feel and explore within themselves. Through the gallery, contemplative art workshops, and retreats, she creates spaces for reflection, meditation, and inner discovery.

As a spiritual facilitator with Brahma Kumaris, she guides individuals in exploring their inner world and envisioning their future transformed selves through spiritual tools, while supporting artists in bringing spirituality more deeply into their own creative expression.