Abela Ruben

Abela Ruben (b. 2001, Irinjalakuda, Kerala) completed her Master of Visual Arts (MVA) in Painting from The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Gujarat, in 2025 and Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) in Painting from the Govt. College of Fine Arts, Thrissur, Kerala, in 2023. She has also completed an apprenticeship under Mr. Soumen Das, an expert in pigments and binders, and a former student of Nilima Sheikh. She lives and works between Kerala and Baroda. Ruben’s practice draws from the immediate topography of her domicile, interior emotional states, and cinematic language. Her images possess a distinct theatricality, eliciting instinctive responses while emerging from moments of ambiguity, memory and cultural imagery. Reinterpreting fragmented experiences through images that hover between stillness and motion. Her geographic relocation from Kerala to Baroda for academic pursuits played an instrumental role in expanding both her visual lexicon and use of materials.

Academics

Masters in Visual arts in Painting from The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Gujarat (2023-25)

Bachelor of Fine arts in Painting from Govt. College of Fine Arts, Thrissur, Kerala (2019-23)

Awards

Late Milind Madhukar Gold Medal and Narendra Gajanan Bhatt Gold Medal for academic excellence, The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Gujarat, India in 2025

Recipient of Kerala Lalit Kala Academy scholarship for Bachelors and Masters Programmes, Kerala, India (2022, 2024)

Vijayaraghavan Endowment Gold Medal for Landscape painting, Kerala Lalit Kala Academy, Kerala, India in 2021