Surreal Feminism in Baroda: Rekha Rodwittiya’s Magical Realist Canvases
- Sutithi Ghosh
- Sep 30
- 6 min read
Updated: Sep 30
I go through all the terror and agony of stepping into an 'unknown'—Rekha Rodwittiya.
Rekha Rodwittiya, a contemporary Indian artist, loves to play with metaphors and allegories in her narrative artworks. An alumnus of Baroda School of Art, she is celebrated for her magical realist canvases where she stylistically uses narrative art to transmute her emotions, observations, beliefs, values, and past experiences onto her canvases.
Being a sensitive artist, Rekha Rodwittiya’s works deal with the complex art of living, issues of discrimination, discord, and acceptance in the present socio-political scenario.
Her works How Naked Shall I Stand for You, or The Quilt Maker speak about her quest to understand women, day in and day out, in private and public spheres of existence, through the prism of personal experiences.
“My sense of empathy with the drawn image was that it offered a physicality, and established a concretizing of the otherwise intangible”— Rekha Rodwittiya
That’s why observation plays a pivotal part in Rekha Rodwittiya paintings. She captures the nuances, the complexities of societal constructs and how they weigh down upon human beings. As a child, she tried to understand the pain and struggles of the adults, and while growing up those suppressed feelings of angst started taking shape in her paintings and portrayals. It was a way to turn those intangible feelings into something concrete and apprehensible.
Most of her paintings have bold and vibrant hues, and that’s how she paints her feminine figures – decorating them with symbolic suggestions. The bright colours that she uses bring an optical association for the viewers that intensifies her message manifold, and traps their gaze, making them decode the aesthetics of colours in her magical surrealist canvases. It’s her power and immense insight that allow her to visualize beauty in trivial things as she feels that true artistic quest lies in finding truth and beauty in every little thing that surrounds us.
Art Focused around Human Figure
She has worked across various mediums — oil on canvas, acrylic works, mixed media on paper, and printmaking. Rekha concentrates mostly on surreal portraits blending metaphors, allegories, and myths to add more layers to her works. They do not attach any fixed meaning but function as suggestions in the process of meaning-making.
As one of the prominent contemporary narrative artists, Rekha loves to work with the subtleties and complexities of the human figure and the stories surrounding them, involving everyday occurrences and mundane details. Using the same grammar and syntax employed by other art practitioners she paints her own narratives, unique and expressive — sharing intriguing tales about the daily world of women. She considers her creative space as a land for cultivation, where one must continuously till, plough, cultivate, and harvest.
Magic Realism of Rekha Rodwittiya
In her paintings like Private Spaces (1991), she plays with the gender from the feminist perspective – with symbolism consciously intervening into a tradition of representation, and the private spaces of the protagonist, of a certain age and confidence, as if a narrative is woven within the main narrative, the conversations that are private, often unseen to the public eye, ignoring the vulnerability, intimacy and solitude, strength – that was otherwise termed as domestic. Rekha brings out these nuances through her deep understanding and empathy for the feminine. It means that a private space of women can also be worthy of public representation of women’s agency and role.
In this oil on canvas painting she applies her magic surrealist and figurative style, with indigenous motifs, radiant colours signature of her.
The Collective Studio of Baroda (Vadodara)
Rekha Rodwittiya conducts an art studio along with her painter husband, named ‘The Collective Studio.’ According to her, the space for creation is equally important as creative production. The political as well as geographical space where an artist lives, shapes their artistic perception, a place that they can relate to, empathize with, and connect to as far as portraying human experiences are concerned. And that is how Rekha finds the Indian context relevant for her creative quest; the women positioned in the socio-political context give her ample triggers to find meaningful content.
Rekha belongs to the tradition of Baroda Art School, influenced by the legends such as Jyoti Bhatt, Nasreen Mohamedi, and others. She conceptualized her academy to fit in the shifting landscape of Baroda’s modern art arena.
Rekha does not rely on the traditional approaches to art education. The concept of her studio is quite radical, formed as an interdisciplinary and collective environment of learning where everyone can interact and contribute to their fellow learners’ art practices and creative growth — where learning transcends boundaries and limitations.
‘The Collective Studio’ works as a personal workspace.
It serves as a foundation for collective inputs from other art practitioners, creating an artistic discourse relating to art, feminism, and other pressing issues. It is more than a conventional studio — but more like a cultural hub in Vadodara, offering meaningful workshops, art discussions, mentorship, and residencies, personalized teaching experience, financial assistance, and encouragement for emerging artists.
Rekha Rodwittiya: Mentors and Guidance in the School of Art in Baroda
Rekha Rodwittiya belongs to the Baroda School of Art, an institution renowned for its strong narrative art and figurative style, blending Indian realism with global modernism. Growing as an artist during her college years with eminent teacher-instructor-mentors like Nasreen Mohamedi, Gulam Mohammed Sheikh, and Jyoti Bhatt, Rekha was deeply influenced by an array of prominent art personalities like Sudhir Patwardhan, Gieve Patel, or the noted artist K.G. Subramanyan.
The interdisciplinary nature of learning in the academy helped her shape her ideologies, as if she were a part of a joint family, growing with her fellow learners and teachers.
It was a challenge for her to pursue feminist perspectives while still contending the male chauvinism of her contemporaries in the academy. No wonder it was a city like Vadodara (Baroda), which existed on the fringes of mainstream society, even in the context of learning art during her time.
She recalls how the teachers would merge art with literature, music, world cinema, and other creative disciplines widening the scope of creative expression. She was drawn to art history and the tradition of socially conscious art.
Rekha Rodwittiya: Enriching the Narratives from the Baroda School of Art
The Baroda School of Art left a mark on her art expressions, but she consciously sought to transcend and expand its viewpoints according to her observations, through her feminist lens. She artistically commented on womanhood in Indian contemporary society, the duality of private and public, challenging the element of voyeurism and gaze in any women-centric narrative. She made the feminine as a pivotal element in her narrative art.
Rodwittiya has cultivated innovative approaches beyond standardized teaching protocols, as she recalls her productive engagement with her mentors and teachers in the Baroda School of Art. She conceptualized ‘The Collective Studio’ to provide the young artists a collaborative and cohesive classroom culture where they get exposed to numerous avenues related to art. She is now a mentor and a facilitator in her initiative ‘The Collective Studio.’
She considers herself both demanding and rigorous as far as teaching art is concerned, inspired by the tradition of her mentors — Nasreen, Jyoti Bhatt, and Peter de Francia. They showed her how to set expectations from students, and the legacy of stringency has shaped her approach to mentoring.
She included some stylistic influences of the Baroda School, but added her magical realism, symbolism in feminist portraits. Her work transcends the tradition of Baroda School to include politically engaged explorations of gender identity.
Rekha Rodwittiya: Journey from Surreal Feminism and Beyond
Rekha, representing one of the notable surrealist women artists India, treats art and life as a harmonious whole. According to her, to paint, one must experience life. That is why Rekha Rodwittiya paintings show how deepest observations find a road to expression through her creative practice.
Her magical realist portraits show her understanding of the female figures, possessing agency, strength, and dignity as she unlocks the doors of psychological understanding.
As a prominent face in national and international exhibitions, Rekha Rodwittiya has brought the spotlight to Baroda, a city on the cultural fringes — unveiling a world of colours, striking narratives, and unflinching engagement with feminist canvases.
