Emily Wilson chats with painter Amrita Singhal, known for her vibrant oil paintings and the Rama Prayer mural in Berkeley.

Amrita Singhal joined Host Jessica Wills to chat about her work and share about her upcoming projects, including paintings, murals, and future virtual immersive experiences.

Exploring Singhal’s “The Rama Mural”, Todd Kerr of the Berkeley Times conducted a Q & A to learn more about the inspirations behind this piece and the impact it will make for the community.

Singhal has covered the building’s entire Heinz Avenue side with an imaginative, repeated Hindi Rama prayer in blues and yellows. The design is based on a painting by Singhal in the Berkeley Art Museum’s collection, which follows the historical meditative Indian tradition of painting the words “Rama Rama” (the Hindu deity who embodies spiritualities and morality) in an exercise to strengthen the mind.

Singhal’s current gallery show, Seek, Memory, combines memories of India with modern colorful imagery. For example, the affecting Funeral Pyres, a color-filled oil on wood, conceived in response to the pandemic, shows a cremator standing like a medieval knight amid the dead.