Power and women are curiously connected; often in their mutual exclusion. There have been historical and mythological evidences from all over the world for this dialectical relationship between power and women. It is said that most of the world wars, both in history and mythology were fought over women, however, when it too comes to the actual exercise of power, women are excluded from its privileged zones in the public as well as private domains.
Renuka Sondhi Gulati paints to exist and sculpts to underline her existence. Her works vivify the journey of a woman from birth to death, undergoing all the pangs of ageing and feeling all the bliss of maturing, and also they capture how a woman becomes a natural split personality when she exists within the society, family and above all in history.
A woman’s role, especially in this ideologically male dominated world, is that of a bahuroopi (who assumes different roles and shapes to eke out a living). She handles various roles at various stages of life. Renuka’s concern is not about chronicling all these events. Instead, in her paintings she creates two selves as mutual reflection of the same personality and places them on the same pictorial plane. One character does not look radically different from the other, however, a closer look reveals that they represent oppositional identities; one of them is active and the other one is passive!
– JohnyML
