Talent

Artist & Instagram Star

“You must check her out, she slay”.

~ Mindy Kaling, Actor and Author 

“Why do I have to choose between being a Canadian or being an Indian? Why can’t I just be both?”” Those questions pushed 23-year-old Babneet Lakhesar, also known as Babbu the Painter, to explore the Indian diaspora through her brush strokes.

Born in Punjab, India, Lakhesar moved to Canada with her family when she was six years old. She attended OCAD University, earning a bachelor of fine arts and majoring in sculpture and installation. Not having realized that being an artist was a possible career, watching fellow students and professors influenced her and, by her third year, she decided she could make it work.

When she graduated, Babbu the Painter was born and she started creating and selling Indian-inspired pop art prints to voice the issues first and second generation South Asian millennials face in North America. Her paintings often depict gender politics in the South Asian community. Bollywood and the Mughal era are major influences in her work, and she often paints nude women. Lakhesar’s parents are supportive of her work, but admit that the subject of her paintings are not easy to talk about in the community.

In 2015, she launched her brand with a focus on creating online content and bold fashion pieces for her widespread audience. Her Bad Beti (bad daughter) art show and her Bakwaas (meaning bullshit in Hindi and Urdu) clothing collection have gained the attention of many, including Mindy Kaling, who is one of her over 50,000 Instagram followers. Kaling not only wore one of Lakhesar’s Bakwaas denim jackets but also featured her art on season five of her show, The Mindy Project.

Lakhesar has inspired artists from everywhere to embrace their dual identities. She has been featured on Flare magazine’s How I Made It list and BuzzFeed India and in Harper’s Bazaar India, Times of India and the Toronto Star, among others.

Bakwaas ~ Babbuthepainter

PHOTO CREDIT

Courtesy of Babbu the Painter