Major influences on Upadhyaya's art style include Salvador Dalí, Vincent van Gogh and George Segal.[8] She has received numerous national and international awards and honors.[9][10] She is also the founding chairperson of the Women Artists Group. Her paintings are on display in various locations, including the World Bank Museum, Bradford Museum (United Kingdom), Fukuoka Asian Art Museum (Japan), SAARC Secretariat (Nepal), and Tribhuvan International Airport.[11] She is a member of the working committees of the BP Koirala Foundation and[12] the Barbara Peace Foundation. She is also the chairperson for the Shivata Love Foundation, an organization with which she engaged in social work through an education program for low-income families, particularly children, women, and minorities. This foundation also raises awareness of meningitis.[7][13]
Childhood
She was born to a Brahmin family as the fifth child to father Kanta Prasad and mother Sushila Upadhyaya in Kathmandu. She spent most of her childhood in Bettiah, India.[14]
Her ancestors lived in Chundi Ramgha, Tanahun District, but her grandfather, Pandit Devi Prasad Upadhyaya, moved to Ramnagar in search of better educational opportunities for his children. Ramnagar was formerly part of Nepal before the Sugauli Treaty was signed, which transferred the territory to India. Some members of her extended family still live in Varanasi, India.[needs update][15]
Education
Her formal education began when her family enrolled in a Catholic school in Bettiah, India, at an early age, at a time when the traditional Nepali society did not allow girls to receive an education.[3]
In 1979, Bishweshwar Prasad Koirala and Bal Krishna Sama attended Ragini's non-profit exhibition of her paintings. This event brought considerable attention to her work and marked her entrance into the progressive circles in Nepal.[8]
Ragini rose to further prominence at the inauguration of her exhibition by Queen Aishwarya Shah on the birth anniversary of King Birendra in 1986. This led her to receive a scholarship to study in England,[16] with encouragement and support from her husband to enter the field.
With help and encouragement from her father,[20] Ragini established herself in the field of fine arts. She has produced more than 65 solo exhibitions, with the first in 1979, and dozens of group exhibitions in more than two dozen countries worldwide.[21][22] Her art has been received positively by others like Lain Singh Bandel, Bal Krishna Sama, BP Koirala, and Abhi Subedi.[23]
Philanthropy
Ragini is the chairperson of the Shivata Love Foundation, which she founded in 2017 in the memory of her eponymous late daughter, Shivata Upadhayay Grela, who died[24] from meningitis B[25] in February 2016 at the age of 20.[26]
