Swati is an incredibly talented artist, who does henna amongst many other things and I met her at a local event a few months ago. As part of exploring the Navatri festivities, and the Indian culture in Jersey City….I reached out to her and asked her if she would do a henna tattoo for me. Naturally, I had to interview her and hear her story. She is so talented! The henna tattoo came out beautifully, people were stopping me on the street asking me about it!

It was so fun getting to know her while she worked her magic.

What’s your name? Swati Rastogi.

What do you do? I’m a homemaker, but an artist by my education. I try and get into the fine art culture of Jersey City because I think closer to New York it gives a platform for emerging artists and so since I am here I see the art culture is mushrooming by no range. So this year was my first year as participating artist at JCAST which gave me great exposure and a good opportunity to involve myself with other fellow artists and I’ll keep up with that.

So you do henna too? That’s another part of my work. I do fine arts and crafts, both are different things. Crafts are mostly utilitarian arts or functional arts or you can use them, you could wear them, I paint on fabrics, I do home décor stuff, so that’s my crafting. [The] art of henna has also been embedded in me since childhood; I have no formal training in henna, but I have a formal training in fine arts as a bachelor’s and a master’s, so I have those design patterns in myself and I am very much inspired by the folk cultures of India. That inspires to bring out something related to India, but I love to incorporate designs with my clients, whatever they have in mind, whatever culture they have, that gives me a chance to do more and more.

How long have you been in Jersey City? It’s just been two and a half years.

Did you move from India? I moved here from Boston, I was in Boston for one year. It’s three and a half years in the U.S.A.

What brought you to the U.S.? I got married after my master’s and since then, I’m here.

How do you like Jersey City? I don’t want to leave Jersey City now because of everything going on. Whenever I make a plan of going out, something in Jersey City just keeps me absorbed, I don’t know something is there. Cultural events, Indian events, non-Indian stuff, and I’m enjoying the downtown atmosphere a lot because I’ve been doing a lot of artist and maker markets, last year it was Groove on Grove, Creative Grove and it’s given me a great opportunity to connect with friends.

What is your favorite Jersey City hangout spot? I like Rumi a lot. We like Liberty House a lot. Any time I’m in Liberty State Park, it’s a treasure in Jersey City, whenever I have time, I get my friends there, I get my relatives there. I do my art photography there.

How would you define your art? It’s a broad thing I would say, like art as a term is very broad. I haven’t confined myself into one particular thing; I appreciate if I get new challenges in life, like recently I did a set of stair risers, so that was a great new project for me. But my painting side is mostly inspired by the tribal cultures of India because during the course my studies I had lived with a lot of tribes and I associate myself very closely with the rural roots in India. I don’t want to get detached. Like when I came to [the] U.S. I didn’t find anything of the sort of what I was doing; I always wanted to be original. So I always developed my own style keeping in my mind one day I’ll get a chance to exhibit what I’m doing. So this year I got that JCAST where I could really exhibit.

Anything else you’d like people to know about you? I’m an art lover. I’m passionate for food, travel, photography. My travel includes a lot of artistic spots like for example if I got to Sedona, I would try and go to some prehistoric Native American sights. So I include my art and travel and photography all together. And I’m a great food lover, so I like to cook; I like to try many new cuisines. I do put art in my food so if you do see my food posted its the more creative side. I believe things should look beautiful before you eat them.

Last words? To close, I would say I know Jersey City very well and loving every day here.

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