We’ve long admired Maya Varadaraj’s life-sized portraits that she paints on raw linen canvases. She is drawn to old photographs of her family and moments of growing up in Coimbatore, not just for composition, but for connection — revisiting the gestures, clothing, and textures of her past to reflect on memory and identity. Somehow, the figures feel strangely familiar. We talk to her over email about her latest work, the materials she’s drawn to, and the quiet rituals that shape her art practice.