Hari and Deepti are a husband-and-wife artist team from Mumbai, India. Their work centers on light boxes using paper cut diorama. The principle is quite simple: Layers and layers of hand cut paper are stacked on top of each other, then enclosed in a box and back-lit by LED strip. This result in a magical, almost dynamic painting that glows with mystery.

They started out in 2010 as an experiment with cutting colored paper. Since then they have changed to plain watercolor paper to place more emphasis on the artwork. They have improved their skills vastly since and have moved on to hold exhibitions, with the most recent one being “We Are All Made of Stars” in Oslo, Norway.

Their works are varied, but they usually center on a fairy tale, fantasy-like nature. Some of their notable works include “Nautilus”, inspired by Captain Nemo’s submarine in “Twenty thousand leagues under the sea”.

They also did book covers, such as “The Princess and the Goblin”, and “Tumble & Blue”.

One of my favorite is “Pure Leaf”, an 8-foot tall tea canister that tells the story of how tea are made. This really makes it feel like South East Asia’s shadow plays, which each frame tells a different process of tea making.

I have always been interested in storytelling as an art medium, and I believe the works of Hari & Deepti perfectly capture their vivid imagination and enchant them into paintings. You can find them at Hari&Deepti, and on Instagram @harianddeepti