“A woman has to find her own path”

Our notion of a woman artist may be of someone soft and sweet, but Kiran Dixit is as fiery as they come. Diminutive in build with a lovely open face, the four-lettered words fly thick and fast from her lips.

I am in good company. We are having a freewheeling chat sitting inside the 3rd floor art gallery of Birla Academy of Art and Culture that overlooks the beautiful lakes on Southern Avenue. Her sculptures and paintings were on display for a week recently, and before we can get to the veritable who’s who of Viswa Bharati Kala Bhavan, Shantiniketan, under whom she trained, I want to know about her life, that is, the woman behind the artist. Her works are best left to the critics who understand art more deeply.(Woman Artist)

“My family came as refugees from Punjab”, she says, “my mother was from Afghanistan. My parents went through a lot of struggle initially till the family set up their business, which gradually prospered.” So you are not a Gujarati? I ask. “No”, she replies. “I am a Punjabi. I married a Gujarati. She was divorced from her first husband, and then she married again; her second husband has passed on, which explains her second surname, Thacker. She is, by birth, a Thapar. “But it is for the woman to find her path,” she says. To which I add – her name. (Woman Artist)

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Why did she take up art? “Because I was thrown out of my home by my step-mother as my mother had left my father for another man and my father was a weak person,” she adds with candor. “I was three-years – old and resented my biological mother for a very long time but I now realize that even back then she had the guts to walk out of an abusive marriage.”

Kiran loved to draw and paint in school. When she chose to study art in Shantiniketan, she was among the students of Ramkinkar Baij. Today, she is the only female disciple of his still alive. From Ramkinkar Baij she learnt the fundamentals of sculpting and of course from Nandalal Bose, or mastermoshai as he was referred to by his students, many of them established names in the world of art. Kiran’s eyes soften at the mention of their names. She recalls the many kind families in Shantiniketan who helped her, “because I always acted like a bechara,” she says with a wicked twinkle in her eyes.(Woman Artist)

When she chose to study art in Shantiniketan, she was among the students of Ramkinkar Baij. Today she is the only female disciple of his, still alive.

She looks back on those carefree student days. “We would get clay for him (Baij) and he would carve out different shapes and bodies in front of our eyes.” Those were heady days. She completed her diploma in Fine Arts from Kala Bhavan in 1969 and moved to England after marriage. She lived there for thirty years, teaching art and crafts to school children. “Many students from Shantiniketan were employed by the top schools in India, too, because of their artistic skills. (Woman Artist)

Living a comfortable life in a posh neighborhood in London, Kiran decided to move back to India in 2000. And Shantiniketan was a natural choice. She has been exhibiting on and off, and although she is nearing 80, she refuses to retire. “One of my lungs has almost collapsed; I had tuberculosis as a child.” This does not deter her one bit as she continues to work in front of tremendous heat to shape her beautiful sculptures in steel and brass with a finish of roughly textured paint in subdued colors. It is not an easy life, but it is a life she has consciously chosen. Fond of cats, she sculpts cats when not feeding these roaming on her premises, with copious amounts of fish regularly.(Woman Artist)

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What is striking is that the simplicity of Shantiniketan is very evident in her sculptures. Tribal folks, the palm trees, birds, and poultry have a unique quality that stays with you. The sculptor Somnath Hore’s influences are visible because he simplified the process of making mold, she explains. Not happy with the word ‘influence’, she says yes, we do get inspired but to ultimately create our own unique style.(woman artist)

Somnath Hore developed various techniques of his own, including the pulp-print technique blending the concept of mixing science with art. Mani da or K.G. Subramanyan was another of her mentors, along with Dinkar Kowshik. He has this to say of her: I have been observing the oeuvre of KIran over the past decades, and have been immensely enthused and impressed by her single-minded devotion to her work in sculpture and drawings. She has a sensitive grasp of the tactile form and has the ability to turn visual impact into bronze. (Woman Artist)

I have gone through a lot in life and after I lost my daughter I almost lost my mind

“Every time I make a piece Kinkarda’s face flashes in front of my eyes. There are so many stories to tell, ” she continues, showing me around the gallery. Kiran has exhibited in art galleries all over the country, solo or in groups. The recent exhibition of 60 works of art (paintings and sculptures) included some larger-than-life figures. These are striking to say the least.(Woman Artist)

“I have gone through a lot in life and after I lost my daughter I almost lost my mind,” she confesses. “I turned to every spiritual or philosophical avenue for solace but gradually realized that I have to carve out my own road for my peace of mind. I built a small house in Simantapalli with a studio in a backyard.”

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Finally, it is art and art alone that can sustain her as she completes a full cycle in a journey she began almost fifty-six years ago. A woman has to find not only her path but also her name. And she can do that even while playing her other roles of wife, mother, equally well. There will be angry, hurt, and confusing moments, but Kiran’s love for life despite the tragedies she faced sparkled like rays of sunshine on that late April afternoon. (Woman Artist)

Image Courtesy: Author

Manjira Majumdar

A masters' in Comparative Literature from Jadavpur University, Manjira Majumdar has dabbled in journalism, teaching and gender activism. She shares her love for cinema, books, art and four-legged creatures with her family consisting of a husband and two daughters.