Olympe Ramakrishna’s silk portraits narrate the stories of urban middle class women

Experience Olympe Ramakrishna's Women of Urban India installation at Alliance Française in Hyderabad, showcasing 12 oil portraits on silk suspended from the ceiling.

“I’ve displayed these portraits under high ceilings too, but I think this is the lowest one,” says Franco-Indian visual artist Olympe Ramakrishna, referring to the low ceiling at Alliance Française of Hyderabad. Her installation, Women of Urban India, currently showing at the French institute, features 12 oil portraits on silk, suspended from the ceiling like sarees drying on rooftop terraces.

The series portrays women we encounter every day — in neighbourhoods, offices, on travels, and among friends. Each image captures the essence of India’s urban middle-class women: resilient, constantly adapting, and balancing the delicate tug between tradition and modernity.

As a researcher studying femininity and women’s identity, Olympe first arrived in Bengaluru in 2010 from Normandie in France , where she was struck by a new generation of urban middle-class women. The changes she observed, she notes, went far beyond clothing choices. From crafting their own life paths to balancing multiple roles, these women navigate two worlds — one shaped by global influences, the other rooted in tradition.

Pointing to one of the portraits, she reflects on the generational shift: the difference between this woman, her mother, and her grandmother is vast, something she says is far less pronounced in Europe, where three generations of women in her own family have led largely similar lives.

The artist first painted the women — some neighbours, friends, and two of her husband’s cousins — on canvas. She then photographed the works, printed them onto Dupion silk, and suspended the portraits from the ceiling, mimicking the gentle sway of saris drying on rooftops. The idea was inspired by evenings spent watching families gather on Bengaluru’s terraces —children playing, grandparents chatting, and birds returning to the park, as freshly dried clothes were collected.

Having grown up around silk — ironing wedding dresses for her designer father, John Francois — the fabric felt like a natural medium for Olympe’s installation. The project, which began two years ago, debuted in Bengaluru in November 2023, and has since travelled to Puducherry, Delhi, Chandigarh, and Paris. Next, she plans to explore the women of Kerala and Tamil Nadu through a large woven tapestry.

Women of Urban India by Olympe Ramakrishna on display at Alliance Francaise Hyderabad till June 15