Lalitha Bandaru | Unfurling

Lalitha Bandaru is a visual artist and educator based in Sammamish, Washington. She received her MFA from Chelsea College of Art in London and her BFA from LASALLE College of the Arts in Singapore. She teaches art and works from her home studio.

Her work begins with close observation of the natural world. She is drawn to small moments of change that often go unnoticed. Working with acrylic, charcoal, graphite, watercolor, and oil, Lalitha brings together traditional and contemporary approaches to create installation-based, public-facing works that invite shared reflection on resilience, impermanence, migration, and becoming.

In her installation Unfurling, painted canvas forms hang and drape from a central point, suggesting butterflies just emerged from the chrysalis, their wings still soft and folded. The work reflects the beginning of a delicate but remarkable journey, as some butterflies travel thousands of miles to survive and continue their lineage.

Having lived across different cultural landscapes, Lalitha is interested in how identity changes through movement, adaptation, and experience. Her work invites viewers to slow down, notice these quiet transformations, and reflect on their own sense of becoming.