Artist Biography / Artist Statement

Sej Saraiya is an interdisciplinary visual artist, photographer, and filmmaker whose work explores world cultures and ancestral wisdom. Her project, Heritage Bearers, portrays musicians, dancers, and artisans who carry centuries of embodied knowledge across borders.

Working through intimate environmental portraiture, natural light, and collaborative field documentation, Saraiya creates images that resist exoticism and affirm her subjects as masters, teachers, and vital contributors to contemporary culture. This photograph forms part of a larger visual archive celebrating continuity, resilience, and artistic inheritance.

Rooted in ethnographic inquiry yet shaped by reverence and formal restraint, Saraiya’s practice asks how tradition survives migration, how identity is transmitted through creative practice, and how living heritage continues to transform the shared cultural landscape.

List of Previous Exhibitions

Selected Group Exhibitions

2026 — Tokyo International Foto Awards (TIFA) Winners (Juried), Le Déco Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2026 — Interconnecting Lines, Cur. Bisa Bennett, Artio Gallery, New York, USA
2026 — Atlas of Humanity, Cur. Martin Vega, Galerie Joseph Le Palais, Paris, France
2026 — Atlas of Humanity, Cur. Martin Vega, One Art Space, New York, USA

2025 — International Photo Awards (IPA) Winners (Juried), House of Lucie (Projection), Athens, Greece
2025 — Things We Carry: A Contemporary Asian Experience, Cur. Andrea Marshall, Studio Montclair, New Jersey, USA
2025 — Coastal Reflections (Juried), Malibu City Gallery, Malibu, USA

2023 — 2022: A Year of Duality, Jur. ASMP, Photo Impact Gallery, West Hollywood, USA
2023 — APA Chicago: Artist’s Perspective, Jur. Natasha Egan, Fulton Street Collective, Chicago, USA
2023 — Bold Beauty Project, Jur. Nancy Kaye, The Art Room, Los Angeles, USA

2022 — Aging as Art, Council on Aging, Bowers Museum, Santa Ana, USA
2022 — KAPWA: A Communal Spirit, Cur. Hon Huang, Avenue 50 Studio, Los Angeles, USA
2022 — A World From Home II (Virtual), Cur. Nancy Kaye, American Society of Media Photographers

2021 — Untitled Group Exhibition, Cur. Kate Kincaid, Topanga Canyon Gallery, Topanga, USA
2021 — Aging as Art, Council on Aging, Newport Beach Central Library, Santa Ana, USA
2021 — Aging as Art, Council on Aging, Bowers Museum, Santa Ana, USA
2021 — Untitled Group Exhibition, Cur. Alison Zavos, Foley Gallery, New York, USA
2021 — Poetry of the Earth, Cur. Deja Cross, Rishikesh International Film Festival, Rishikesh, India
2021 — Aging as Art, Council on Aging, Vi Smith Concourse Gallery, Orange County, USA

2020 — Untitled Group Exhibition, Cur. Alison Zavos, Blank Wall Gallery, Athens, Greece
2020 — Aging as Art, Council on Aging, Newport Beach Central Library, Santa Ana, USA
2020 — Topanga Artists Studio Tour, Topanga, USA
2020 — Aging as Art, Council on Aging, Bowers Museum, Santa Ana, USA
2020 — A World From Home (Online), Cur. Nancy Kaye, American Society of Media Photographers
2020 — Sacred Landscapes, Rishikesh International Film Festival, Tapovan, India

2018 — Animal Advocacy Through Art, Cur. N. Ford, Lois Lambert Gallery, Los Angeles, USA
2018 — Non-Duality Among the Indigenous, Inv. Freda Sideroff, Electric Lodge Art Gallery, Los Angeles, USA
2018 — Kapwa: A Communal Spirit, Cur. Hon Huang, Nous Tous Art Gallery, Los Angeles, USA

2017 — School’s Out Forever, Cur. Jalal Poehman, Legato Art Gallery, Los Angeles, USA
2017 — Evoking the Unseen, Cur. Jeffrey Ainis, Venice Love Shack, Los Angeles, USA
2017 — Beatles and the Indian Influence, Cur. Phil Goldberg, Santa Monica Assembly Hall, Los Angeles, USA
2017 — Advaita or Non-Duality, Cur. Deja Cross, Shangri-La, Topanga Canyon, USA
2017 — Advaita or Non-Duality, Cur. Tribhuvan Chauhan, Uttra Art Gallery, Rishikesh, India

Solo Exhibitions

2022 — Boutique Lifestyle Leaders Conference, Inv. Ariela Goharik Kiradjian, Westlake Village Inn, Westlake, USA
2022 — Topanga Film Festival (Featured Artist), Cur. Urs Baur, Topanga Film Festival, Topanga, USA
2022 — Revel Silk: Indigenous Women, Cur. Monica Dogra, Houndstooth Studio, Los Angeles, USA
2022 — Indigenous Wisdom, Cur. Freda Sideroff, Electric Lodge Art Gallery, Venice, USA

2021 — A Taste of India (Garden Event), Cur. Nicole Muyingo, MUY House, Culver City, USA

2020 — A Taste of the World, Inv. Graham Brooks, Froggies, Topanga, USA

2019 — Remote Cultures, Ancient Wisdom & Advaita, Inv. Jim Burklo, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, USA
2019 — Indigenous Peoples of the World, Inv. Prof. Mugdha Yeolekar, California State University, Fullerton, USA
2019 — Namaste India, Inv. Prof. Mugdha Yeolekar, Short Avenue Elementary School, Los Angeles, USA
2019 — Advaita or Non-Duality, Inv. Deja Cross, Rishikesh International Film Festival, Tapovan, India

2017 — Advaita or Non-Duality, Maharishi “Beatles” Ashram, Rishikesh, India