Olivia Fraser first moved to India in 1989 in her early twenties. She earned an MA in Modern Languages from Oxford University before studying for one year at the Wimbledon Art College. Initially, Olivia painted the architecture of Delhi and its people, influenced both by her ancestor, James Baillie Fraser who painted in India in the early 1800s and by a hybrid form of painting that developed in the era where Indian artists mixed techniques and ideas from the East and West.
In 2005 she began to study the traditional Indian miniature painting technique under Jaipuri and Delhi masters, and now uses its gem-like stone colours, its unique miniature brush work, and its elaborate decorative and burnished surfaces. Having been especially influenced by Nathdwara pichwai painting and early C19th Jodhpuri painting, Olivia has been exploring its visual language, reaching back to an archetypal iconography strongly rooted in India’s artistic and cultural heritage that can breach borders and be relevant to her twin life between East and West.
Her work has been shown in galleries and art fairs around the world and in 2015 her work was shown at the Venice Biennale. Her paintings are now in collections in India, UK, France, Belgium (Museum of Sacred Art), UAE, Singapore, Australia, China and the USA.
Olivia divides her time between Delhi and London.