Hema Upadhyay was born in Baroda, Gujarat, in India in 1972. She obtained a Bachelors in Fine Arts specializing in painting in 1995 and in 1997 obtained her a Masters in Fine Arts degree specalising in print making from the Faculty of Fine Arts, Baroda. She won the Tenth Indian Triennial in 2001.

She received the National Scholarship and the Gujarat State Award in 1996. She did her residency at Art Space in Sydney in 2001 and Vasl Residency in Karachi in 2003. Hema's work reflects upon issues of gender, class and dislocation. Her work combines several elements including painting, sculpture, collage and photography typically including small collaged photographic self-portraits. Miniaturized images of herself in various positions appear in her allegorical landscapes allowing them to interact with the decorative and fictive environments she creates.

Characteristic of her work are patterned surfaces which hail from Indian spiritual iconography and traditional textile design.