Kangna’s Pathway: Drawing Her Own Path

“I’ve been drawing since I was three or four,” she says. “I’d draw the same scene over and over, rolling green hills, a rainbow and a tiny fairy in the sky.” Encouraged by her parents, she joined art classes early on, long before she began at Bangkok Patana. “Art gave me a voice before I even knew I had one.”

Kangna joined Bangkok Patana School in Year 6, and she never imagined how deeply the school community would shape her. “It’s like one big, supportive family,” she says. Living with a visual impairment, she was especially grateful for the warmth and empathy of those around her. “Everyone has looked out for me. I’ve always felt safe and supported.”

While she only spent one year in Primary, the transition into Secondary School felt surprisingly natural. “It felt like a continuation of something good,” Kangna says. But the intensity of (I)GCSEs brought a shift. “That’s when it hit me, ‘I’m growing up now.’ It made me realise I needed to take things more seriously.”

Her subject choices in the IB programme reflected this growing self-awareness. Kangna chose Higher Level Visual Arts, English Language and Literature and Theatre, along with Standard Level Maths A&I, Spanish Ab Initio and Environmental Systems and Societies. But Visual Arts was always where her heart truly belonged.

That passion found clarity and direction during the IB Visual Arts course. Her final portfolio tackled big themes, gender, cultural identity and post-colonialism, rooted in personal experience. One of her most powerful projects focused on rotis, inspired by her mother’s journey from homemaker to professional chef. “Rotis seem so ordinary, but they carry so much meaning,” Kangna says. “When men make misshapen rotis, they get applauded for trying. But women are expected to get it perfect every time. That double standard, it frustrated me, and I turned that feeling into art.”

Her work also reflected a deeper interrogation of colonial influence on Indian fashion. “Before British rule, saris were often worn without blouses. Then modesty norms were imposed, and suddenly there were pixie cuts, Peter Pan collars, and lace blouses,” she explains. “It’s fascinating how some of those influences linger, even now.”

Alongside her love for visual storytelling, Kangna’s interest in performance blossomed. In Theatre HL, she explored female voices through her IB Solo Project on Draupadi from the Mahabharata, inspired by director Julie Taymor. “I focused on that pivotal moment, her public humiliation, and turned it into a performance about feminine rage and resilience,” Kangna says. Using fabric, projections, and voiceovers, she brought ancient mythology into a contemporary frame. “I wanted the audience to feel her fury.”

Outside the classroom, her passion for stories grew. “My dad and I would go to the cinema constantly,” she recalls, “We’d come out of the theatre and spend ages dissecting everything, plot, acting, cinematography.” That ritual sparked her interest in film, especially screenwriting. “At one point, I thought I’d become an author. But screenwriting just made sense, it lets me merge my love for art, dialogue, and storytelling.”

This year, Kangna was accepted to Whistling Woods International, a leading film institute in Mumbai, where she will study filmmaking with a focus on screenwriting. “The campus is incredible, state-of-the-art facilities, film premieres on site, it just feels alive,” she says.

Looking back on her time at Patana, Kangna credits the school not only with nurturing her creativity, but also with giving her confidence to express herself fully. “Patana has never boxed me in. I’ve been free to be who I am—to explore identity, culture, feminism, and express it all through my work.”

As she embarks on her next chapter, Kangna carries with her a sense of purpose, and a sketchbook full of stories waiting to be told. “I know the kind of stories I want to share,” she says. “Stories that centre women, culture, and complexity. Stories that reflect me.”