Rumi Agarwal, BFA Fine Arts (Painting) ’29, was selected as a finalist for the 2026 AXA Art Prize, one of the leading student art competitions in the United States. The competition is open to any style of figurative paintings, drawings, and original printmaking created by undergraduate and graduate art students. “Through my practice, I wish to expose how feelings of sociological alienation subtly yet deeply impact one’s introspective experience and relationship with self-perception,” they said. “Influenced by my synesthesia, I paint figures in vivid palettes and surreal environments, revealing feelings only articulated in the unconscious mind.”