Neeraj Bakshi (b.1969) and his small-sized lyrical graphic poems, as he calls them, strive to bring human communities together. His subject started out to be landscapes, which, with time, became animals with whom he had shared a connection since childhood. Themes of nostalgia, reflecting on his experiences of violence and suffering, permeate his works. Bakshi calls some of his works poems, which are open to interpretation, and he does not confine himself to one medium. His influences come from psychology, science, folklore and mythology of his home, and of course, where it all started: natural landscapes. He uses watercolour and gouache to create forms of animals merging into each other against the backdrop of nostalgic landscapes.
Bakshi studied at Kashmir University (1992) before he had to leave his village due to the ongoing violence.