Nirupa Rao

Nirupa Rao is a botanical artist whose work is inspired by field visits and close collaboration with natural scientists. She has illustrated two books on native flora of south India’s rainforests. She was the 2022 artist-in-residence at Harvard University's Dumbarton Oaks Research Centre; the youngest artist included in Kew Botanical Garden’s Indian Botanical Art; and has been featured in the BBC documentary Nature and Us—A History Through Art. 

In 2020, she was awarded the National Geographic Storytelling Fellowship to create the film Spirit of the Forest. She is based in Bangalore, India.