Botanical Illustrations

Vijay Thiruvady has always been interested in various aspects of nature and more specifically horticulture. He conducts Green Heritage Walks in Lalbagh, Imperial Colonial Walks in Cubbon Park and Military Heritage Walks at the MEG&C, and participates in the various activities of Bangalore Environment Trust as a Trustee. These have included the publishing of a book on Heritage Trees in the vicinity of Bangalore and a book on Devarakadus and Gundutopus in and around Bangalore.  

Thiruvady spent his early years in Delhi.  His academic interests were pursued at St. Stephen’s College, Delhi and School of Architecture, Ahmedabad.  When in Delhi, he had exposure to the world of nature and environment through association with a number of distinguished people in the field and institutions. 

Thiruvady has given talks on Bangalore, its environment and history at National Institute of Advanced Studies, Raman Research Institute, Bangalore International Centre, Bangalore Club, National Gallery of Modern Art, and Azim Premji University. 

Nirupa’s work is inspired by regular field visits into the wild, and informed by close collaborationwith natural scientists to achieve accuracy. A National Geographic Young Explorer, she received a grant to create her book Hidden Kingdom—Fantastical Plants of the Western Ghats. She has also published Pillars of Life—Magnificent Trees of the Western Ghats (2018), a debut project in collaboration with naturalists Divya Mudappa and TR Shankar Raman of the Nature Conservation Foundation.

She illustrated the cover of Amitav Ghosh’s latest novel, Gun Island, and re-jacketed four of his older novels for Penguin-Random House. In 2019, she participated in a Plant Humanities program at Harvard University’s Dumbarton Oaks Research Centre. She has also been named an INK Fellow, one to ‘watch out for’ in Forbes India’s annual 30 Under 30 issue, and one of Harper’s Bazaar India’s ‘Indian Women to be Proud Of’