Antonio Puri, born, in Chandigarh in1966 and raised in the Himalayas, studied art at the Academy of Art in San Francisco and Coe College, Iowa and holds a law degree from the University of Iowa. His early influences became a springboard to combine traditional concepts and modern abstract art. He has had over a dozen solo exhibitions worldwide and his work is in numerous museum collections. He lives and works in Philadelphia.

Says Antonio Puri, "For the pilot project the idea is to do a residency in India and create a palette which incorporates the colour of the skins of a diverse group of residents of the dhal ni pol area of Ahmedabad. I would then created stacks of my work using the different skin colours as the basis of each work with its subtle hues and tones. I work with the idea of multiples since it expresses my interest in many as one. Varna, the basis of the caste system, is also a global phenomenon. I would like to use the pilot project to get the project started and exhibit the panels in the Loft in Mumbai as a way to memorialize this concept.