Marigolds

2023 · Drawing · 31 × 22.2 cm

Can I see it?

Not on view at present

Where is “Marigolds” now? Collection: Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Not on view at present. Checked September 25, 2026.

Victoria and Albert Museum

London, United Kingdom

It belongs to the collection, but is not on display at present.

Checked: 14 days ago
In this state since: Sep 25, 2026
Source: The museum

On the map Museum page

About the work

This group of sketches and finished artworks show the development of artist Aditi Anand's college project entitled 'Marigolds'. The V&A Illustration Award winner for the Emerging category in 2024, Aditi Anand described her brief for ‘Marigolds’ as an imagined narrative aimed at a target audience of age 4–8 which would "serve as a window into a world that may be different from the readers'...Set in India, the story follows a child (gender unspecified) and their mother (Ma) on the child’s first day at work in a flower market. Ma has already been working there since she was very young; now it’s the child’s turn."

Read on

During the summer months, Aditi Anand travelled through India with her sketchbook (E.806-2024). Among many observed scenes of interest, from birds, to city architecture and cafe scenes, are sketches of the wholesale flower markets of Delhi. The "stark juxtaposition between the colourful flowers and the hardships of the people working in a dark, dingy area" and the generational aspect of "parents teaching their children the craft of making wonderful creations with flowers" gave her the ideas for her 'Marigolds' narrative.

In her peliminary sketches for 'Marigolds' the artist used a variety of media, using the quick coverage of pastels and gouache to convey atmosphere and colour and turning to pen and ink for recording information and detail. She used tracing paper to transfer some important details to paper for the next stage of the work, especially the crafting of the gajra (flower garlands). Colour sketches and the worked up full page drawings are in mixed media of crayon, charcoal, pastels, coloured pencils and inks, and capture colour and atmosphere through texture. The drawings were finished digtially using Adobe Photoshop (see E.765-2024 to E.768-2024).

Victoria and Albert Museum