"We are all connected in the creative process. What I put out into the world, once you receive it, has an impact on what you in turn put back into the world".

Welcome ..................

Born in Bombay, India, Cheryl Braganza presently lives in Montreal, Quebec. She has exhibited her paintings in various countries, most recently in Quebec, Canada, working in oils, acrylics and batik. She is self-taught but has taken art courses in Rome, London, École de Beaux Arts, Montréal, Concordia Fine Arts Faculty Montréal, Centre de Textiles, Montréal(silk-screen) and with Helmut Gerth, Suzanne B. Moyers (silk painting) , Helena Fletcher, Jan Phillips (Creative Consciousness) and Gregg Kreuz (portrait painting) among others.

She has at one time belonged to the Beaconsfield Artists Association, the Canadian Federation of Artists, the Womens' Art Society and recently the English Language Arts Network.

Having denied her Indian roots for many years, between 2000 - 2004, she focused on issues that center on the Indian and the Afghan woman.

Her painting depicting the ancient Indian ritual of SATI is significant in that women in so many different cultures do, in fact, "die" when confronted with the loss of a partner.

Her paintings are in collections in different parts of the world. The Peace Dove on silk, depicting Afghan Women was recently exhibited at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts through the Women's Art Society of Montreal.

She was the featured ARTIST OF THE MONTH in July 2002 at the Kirkland Library where approximately 30 of her newest works in acrylic and oil were on display in an exhibit entitled BREAKING THE SILENCE.

The vernissage was broadcast on INDO MONTREAL MAGAZINE, a Cable network of Global TV and included an interview with Anita Kumarasingh.

Her oil portrait of Indian artist F.N.Souza done in 1965 was kept in the archives of the National Portrait Gallery in London for 4 years for possible acquisition.

She has offered her artwork and organizational skills to the West Island Palliative Care Center, Literacy Unlimited, Teesri Dunya, Centraide, AMI Quebec, Rights & Democracy, the ASHA Foundation and the Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan.

Despite a bout with a serious illness, she again displayed her works at the Kirkland Library in October 2005. Cheryl continues to work in various capacities with organizations that focus on human rights.

The Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan organization based in Calgary (www.w4wafghan.ca) has published a 2008 calendar entitled ONE WOMAN'S STORY which featured 12 of her paintings and captions that recount her journey through her illness and eventual recovery. All the proceeds went to the education of women and girls in Afghanistan.

(See 2008 for continued activites in art and music.)