Women on canvas

Artist Rekha Rodwittiya, whose portrayal of women always combined the personal and political, opened her retrospective exhibition in Mumbai on Wednesday, displaying a new body of work looking back at her nearly four-decade-long career.

Titled “Rekha@Sixty: Transient Worlds of Belonging”, the retrospective reflects on Rodwittiya’s career, commenting on human life through the lens of her experiences, the gallery said in a statement.

Also calling her an important voice for the Indian feminist movement, the statement highlighted the political origins of the Baroda-based artist’s practice.

“I grew up with a political consciousness that obliged me to hold accountability to all that I did. Art was not something I accidentally stumbled upon nor was it a dispassionate choice. From the age of five I knew very determinedly that I would be a painter,” Rodwittiya, who turned 60 on Wednesday, said.

Her easily identifiable works, always holding politically-charged metaphors, explore ideas of womanhood and questions patriarchal systems, the statement said.

The month-long exhibition, which culminates on November 30, takes one through her early childhood in Bengaluru, through her teenage years, influenced by 1970s icons such as Peter Blake, The Beatles and Mary Quant, to exhibitions in Europe and the US.

The artist, who holds a master’s degree from London’s Royal College of Art, was invited to create for an exhibition in Geneva, when the UN completed its 50 years in 1995.