Orijit Sen

Orijit Sen studied graphic design at the National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad. He is a co- founder of People Tree – a collaborative studio and store for artists, designers and craftspeople  that has grown, since its inception in 1990, into a widely regarded name associated with the promotion of  artisanal innovation, creative community building and social advocacy. Along with his wife and fellow designer Gurpreet Sidhu, he leads People Tree’s in-house design studios in New Delhi and Goa. Orijit started collecting and drawing comics in his early teens, and has been deeply involved with the development of comics and graphic novels in India. His pioneering work “River of Stories” (Kalpavriksh 1994) is considered to be India’s first graphic novel. 

Orijit is also co-founder of the Pao Collective of graphic artists, and a key person behind the award winning “Pao: The Anthology of Comics#1” (Penguin 2012). His comics and graphic art have been widely published and exhibited internationally. Between 2009 and 2011, Orijit conceptualized—and led a team that executed—one of the world’s largest hand-painted murals, installed at the Virasat-e-Khalsa museum in Anandpur Sahib, Punjab. Between 2013 and 2016, Orijit served as Mario Miranda Chair visiting professor at Goa University, where he initiated an experimental arts research project entitled “Mapping Mapusa Market Project” involving students, educationists and artists. In 2015-16, he was engaged in an Indo-Palestinian project on cultural exchange and resistance in collaboration with theatre artists from both countries. He is a fellow of the Salzburg Global Seminar.