Warrior woman

Celebrating her birthday on Friday, the Baroda-based painter brings a solo titled Rekhafifty to Sakshi Art Gallery, Tanna House, in Colaba.

The body of breathtaking, larger-than-life canvases, each rendered around a single woman protagonist, surrounds Rodwittiya, as she takes time out from e-mailing and lunching at the gallery, to chat with an old student from her alma mater.

8220;My work has usually been about celebration. In this instance, it8217;s about my personal journey that I have lived mostly on my terms.

My work also deals with the collective8212; an interesting pendulum that I swing between. I feel privileged to have collided with situations that have nurtured me and created a context for my spiritual and intellectual growth,8221; says the artist. She chose a path less trodden when she decided to be a single mother.

In small-town Baroda it wasn8217;t easy and she took on the chauvinism of her contemporaries, while she taught at the Faculty of Fine Arts, MSU, after she returned to India after doing her Masters at the Royal Collage of Art, London.

Now, her son Mithun is settled in Mumbai where he is floating his own design firm. Partner Surendran Nair and Rodwittiya lead a quiet yet fulfilling life where their studios nurture their creativity.

8220;One has to be committed to asserting one8217;s rights, since it often becomes tedious to fight. By this, I do not mean violence by assertion, for one8217;s rights. It8217;s easy to become complacent. I8217;m not apologetic or defensive about my feminist space. I am privileged to have been born into that skin of thinking,8221; says the 50-year-old artist.

In a day and age when a lot of younger female artists are not keen to own the label of feminism8212; some find it outdated8212;

Rodwittiya is firm that issues related to gender inequality are far from resolved. 8220;At a time when an eight-month-old baby is raped by a 22-year-old man, it is important to be feminist. One is not suggesting it is the only concern but it8217;s one of the many politics of alertness,8221; says the artist.

Rodwittiya is holding a seminar to discuss the politics of exhibition spaces and policing of art works. The event is hosted by Sakshi Art Gallery on November 12 and is an invite to like-minded people. 8220;It is time to bind together once more since we are facing much opposition,8221; says the artist, obliquely referring to the current condition at her former art school.

This body of works, resplendent in colour, depicts women in several avatars8212; as warrior, nurturer, mother, homemaker and vigilante. They encompass the artist8217;s beliefs and celebrate her triumphs. 8220;I do not tell stories; I paint life-scapes.8221;

The show continues till November 18 at Sakshi Art Gallery.