“Warriorhood is an act of living an awakened life,” says Rupy C. Tut, referencing the continual battles that emerge from being a person in the world. Tut has long invoked her family’s history of migration and Punjabi heritage to consider kinship, a theme that has more recently evolved into a recurring warrior character. “The privilege of belonging and being seen as a part of a place, without needing explanations, is not available to my characters, who are finding ways to navigate and battle that out-of-place-ness,” she adds. Depicting suited figures floating amid translucent jellyfish, the dream-like “Battle Ready” is one such work. The creatures’ tentacles trail across the composition, shrouding both the blue expanse and the subjects’ limbs in their wispy lines. These patterns also offer insight into the emotional register of the piece. “If the environment is meant to assuage, then the character’s bodysuit is chaotic distress,” the artist tells Colossal. “Similarly, if the bodysuit is meant to pacify the narrative of the character’s purpose, then the environment is lurking with dangers and chaotic, unsafe possibilities nearby.”Detail of “Awakened” (2025), handmade pigments on linen, 24 x 36 inches. Photo by Phillip MaiselTut is drawn to these kinds of metaphorical pairings, and her handmade pigments are another example. The artist assigns emotion and themes to each color that recur throughout her practice. “Yellow lead oxide predominantly signals a place or moment of struggle for my characters, whereas Cinnabar red deepens the earthiness of the conversation in the painting by rooting the story in blood and earth,” she says. By limiting her palette, the artist has further constructed a world in which ideas evolve over time yet have a clear lineage to their forebears, adding, “This meaning-making is a way of indexing my thinking and making as well, where paintings from different times are placed in dialogue through this growing symbolism of color.”For Tut, painting in this way is both therapeutic and devotional, particularly as she navigates life as a woman, mother, and artist continually struggling against stereotypes and convention. The slow act of creating pigments and working in the studio tethers her to something larger and excavates the voids she feels. It could be a significant childhood building you felt small and safe in, or a home that allowed you to dream freely, or a road trip lined by trees you no longer see, or values of slowing down, of being present, of being happy in nothingness yet striving for excellence, of history books that didn’t cover your grandparents’ trauma, or politics that don’t notice nor praise the immigrant Indian girl wearing an American flag scarf in her senior pictures to prove her identity in a post 9/11 world; these are all examples of voids I hope to fill through my work and in my practice of making paintings. This is also where the warrior returns. Tut sees this strong, fearless figure as representing “responsibility, honesty, justice, and a commitment to humility as an act of bravery,” values that emerge in both her life and work. Whether rendering the swirling pattern of a figure’s bodysuit or patiently waiting for a pigment to dry only to find the formula is wrong, the artist creates as both an homage to her ancestors and as a way to connect with people amid their own turmoil.“Hope for a Meeting (Wasl Ki Umeed)” (2025), handmade pigments on linen, 48 x 48 x 2 inches. Photo by Chris GrunderTut’s work is currently on view at the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento and the National Portrait Gallery. Later this week, she will also be included in a group exhibition opening at the Horton Art Gallery at San Joaquin Delta College. Explore more of her practice on Instagram.“Holding on to Hopes, Dreams and Desires” (2025), handmade pigments on linen, 60 x 40 x 1 1/4 inches. Photo by Phillip Maisel“Memories of a Mountain Ridge” (2025), wool, cotton, acrylic, and polyester cotton, 79 3/4 x 53 1/4 x 2 1/4 inches framed. Photo by Phillip Maisel“Battle Ready” (2025), handmade pigments on linen, 72 x 60 x 2 inches. Photo by Phillip MaiselDetail of “Trade Offs of Love”“Trade Offs of Love” (2025), handmade pigments on linen, 40 x 120 x 1 1/4 inches. Photo by Phillip MaiselDo stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month. The article Rendered in Handmade Pigments, Rupy C. Tut’s Warriors March Toward Belonging appeared first on Colossal.