Two Lives

“In America,people see you as a cut-out,a racial blur,whether you are Indian or Pakistani is a distinction they do not care for. The fact that I sometimes wear a black scarf around my neck does not help matters,” says 37-year-old Thakkar who moved to the US in late 1999. “Those of us who have chosen to settle in the West late in life do not have American accents and don’t blend in,” she adds. “Recalculating” foregrounds the artist’s dilemma with loss of identity.

“As an older woman,I am not sure how to present myself. Am I seen as sexual or conservative? While my headscarf indicates the former,the red bra strap peeping out from under my top may indicate the latter,” explains the artist. In her self-portrait,she is shown driving with her headscarf on,with a pensive

expression,as she is surrounded by floating thought and speech bubbles.

Motherhood has also led her to shift to canvas from her earlier photographic works that were seen in 1994-98. Having graduated in Art at the MS University in Baroda,Thakkar went on to do her

post-graduation at the University of Southern California.

“I decided to paint my daughter with the more conventional oil on canvas to bring out a tactility and sensuousness,while retaining the innocence of childhood,” says Thakkar.

The images range from her daughter in her bath to napping in her father’s lap to drawing with coloured crayons. The child is thoughtful and inward looking and almost never attempts direct eye contact with the viewer. Thakkar,on the hand,hand does.

The exhibition is on at Lalit Kala

Academy till January 4. Contact: 23381435