Riya Devi-Ashby was born in 2001 in Silver Spring, Maryland. Her interdisciplinary arts practice bridges painting, installation, performance, and sculpture. In 2023, she received her BA in Studio Art from Wesleyan University and completed her debut solo exhibition ‘Veni: an Unweaving’ in Zilkha Gallery. As an emerging artist, Devi-Ashby has already been featured in numerous juried exhibitions such as ‘Creative Confluences’ at Towson University, ‘Rooted Shadows’ at Rosenberg Gallery, and ‘Life in Motion’ at Spectrum Gallery. In 2025 (with the support of a Hulley Foundation Special Project Grant) she completed a series of fine arts objects in conversation with the original production ‘Yogini’ by the Sutradhar Dance Company, which she exhibited and performed at the Sandy Spring Museum, the Black Box Theatre Silver Spring, and the Sutradhar Institute of Dance and Related Arts.

Devi-Ashby is classically trained in Kuchipudi dance by guru Nilimma Devi and Thang-Ta martial arts by master Khilton Nongmaithen, the foremost practitioner of the art form in the U.S. She has performed at celebrated stages such as the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, Anapale Dance Festival in Athens, Dance Place DC, the National Museum of Asian Art, and more. Her extensive performing experience inspires and expands her visual arts practice today; she is currently developing a new series of visual art and choreography about gender, violence, and queer femininity. 

She lives and works in the Washington DC area.