Invoking the feminine: How an exhibition at Lado Sarai strives to celebrate womanhood

The aesthetics and power of women in creativity are on display at Lado Sarai art galleries

Tucked inside the dusty lanes of Lado Sarai, a carefully curated collection of art is celebrating femininity. ‘Reflections of Womanhood’, blooms to life with paintings, sculptures and photographs by 54 acclaimed artists including Alka Raghuvanshi, Aparna Caur, Anjolie Ela Menon and Gogi Saroj Pal. The works illustrate the enduring nature of art made by women, of women, and for women. 

“I curated this project to highlight the glaring gender biases that still exist in everyday life, and the urgent need to create a more equal society,” says the exhibition’s curator, Manisha Gawade. She adds that while most of the contributing artists are women, she made a conscious decision to include the works of male artists, like Arup Das, Krishen Khanna and Asit Patnaik, too. “There can be no fair chance for an equal world if men do not support women,” she says. 

While some featured pieces borrow deeply from the physicality of women, many others evoke a subtler reminder of the universal experience of womanhood. The themes of inheritance, loss, and fortitude echo throughout the curated works. 

Rashmi Khurana’s piece featuring patchwork embroidery is a result of her trying to sew during the pandemic. “Sewing isn’t exactly new to me; rather it is an extension of all that I’ve learnt from my grandmother and mother, who were avid embroiderers,” she says, adding that matrilineal inheritance, is a defining experience of womanhood.

Globally lauded artist Aparna Caur’s work, is an understated study of the struggles of womanhood. An effortless pencil-on-paper piece, titled ‘Yogini in Ukraine’, presents a placid-featured lady watching the world around her go up in flames. “Wars, massacres and riots are invariably initiated by men. But it is women, as bystanders, who bear the ultimate brunt,” she says. Another piece, called ‘Where Is My Tree?’, features a woman looking on forlornly at the ghost of a tree. “When India hosted the Commonwealth Games, authorities felled hundreds of trees near Siri Fort. It was an awful thing to see the living things being torn down,” she says, gesturing at her sketch, which, despite its simplicity, elicits a quiet sadness.

 While more overtly feminine, Kanchan Chander’s digital art conveys a somewhat overlooked feature of womanhood — seeing beauty in ordinary household items despite being surrounded by them all the time. Her large, colourful digitally-printed piece features a four-armed goddess bearing the head of Frida Kahlo and a few iterations of the artist, Kanchan, herself. “My domestic help and son know to save odd bits and bobs from me, ranging from the free toys found in chips packets to sequins that have come loose from items of clothing. One never knows when items that most people would discard will ultimately come in handy,” she says. 

Durga Kainthola’s multimedia portrait of Amrita Shergill,pays homage to the artist’s mammoth legacy. “She was a strong woman who made her mark in a man’s world and died before turning 29,” she says when asked why she picked Shergill as a muse. Durga adds that she has left threads of gold embroidery hanging all over the canvas on purpose. “The thread of life, snipped off early,” she explains.