Meet artist Radhika Chitalia, who turned her grief into art on pages of father’s passport

What began with an old passport tucked away after her father’s death became a deeply personal art project for illustrator and designer Radhika Chitalia. By painting its pages with gouache, she transformed a document filled with travel stamps and memories into a visual tribute to her father and the journeys he never got to make. (Source: Photo by (instagram: handmade.by.radhika))

An Old Passport Became Her Canvas: After her father passed away, Radhika kept his expired passport instead of throwing it away. Years later, she began painting directly on its pages, working around the existing visas, immigration stamps and blank spaces. What started spontaneously became a way for her to process grief. (Source: Photo by (instagram: handmade.by.radhika))

Inspired By Mughal Miniature Art: Radhika drew artistic inspiration from Mughal miniature painting while working on the passport. Her illustrations use rich colours and detailed imagery, allowing the paintings to coexist with the original stamps and markings rather than completely hiding the document's history. (Source: Photo by (instagram: handmade.by.radhika))

Painting The Journeys That Never Happened: Radhika's father loved travelling and had planned to explore the world with her mother after retirement. He died before that dream could happen. Through her paintings, Radhika began filling the passport's unused pages with new stories, creating an imagined continuation of the journeys he never completed. (Source: Photo by (instagram: handmade.by.radhika))

Sixteen Pages, One Personal Tribute: What began with a single page eventually extended across all 16 pages of the passport. For Radhika, the work was initially meant for herself, her mother and her sister, a way of turning something that could have remained a painful reminder of loss into an object her family could hold on to as art. (Source: Photo by (instagram: handmade.by.radhika))

From Private Grief To Shared Memory: The project was never initially created for an audience, but Radhika's decision to share it online brought an unexpected response. People began telling her about objects they had kept after losing loved ones, and some said her work inspired them to find their own ways of preserving those memories. (Source: Photo by (instagram: handmade.by.radhika))

Giving Old Memories A New Life: The passport project eventually led Radhika to work with other documents belonging to her father, including school report cards and certificates. Her approach does not erase the traces of the past; instead, she layers new images and stories over objects that already carry a personal history. (Source: Photo by (instagram: handmade.by.radhika))