The 2022 exhibition Femme brought together nine women artists at Gallery Duomo in Bengaluru through works addressing womanhood, nature, identity and creative resilience.
Presented from March to the end of April at the rooftop gallery in UB City, the exhibition included Pushpa Dravid, Soumya Chavan, Chethana Ravi, Alka Chadha Harpalani, Nandini Raikar, Runa Biswas, Nita Kembhavi, Ruchika KC and Sujata Sah Sejekan.
Nine practices under one title
Curator Sujata Sejekan selected the artists for the quality of their work and the differences in their personal narratives. The exhibition was organised around Women’s Day, but it avoided reducing the participants to a single account of female experience.
Instead, the display brought together separate artistic languages and approaches. Some works addressed motherhood and care, while others considered nature, identity, emotion and the wider conditions in which artists continued working after the pandemic.
Sejekan’s acrylic painting Anamika used the ring finger as a symbol connected with the earth, surrounded by ripples of energy. Another work, Mother, placed the sun within a womb and combined a white elephant, a swan and a fruit-bearing tree as images of intelligence, purity, growth and nurture.
A gallery above the city
Gallery Duomo’s setting on the 16th floor of UB City gave the exhibition an unusual relationship with Bengaluru. The skyline formed a changing backdrop while the gallery sought to connect artists with audiences and collectors in a central public location.
The exhibition also reflected the strain experienced by artists during the pandemic, when opportunities to show and sell work became uncertain. Its public presentation represented a return to collective visibility after a period marked by isolation and reduced access to galleries.
Femme did not argue for a uniform idea of womanhood. Its strength came from allowing nine artists to approach creation through distinct materials, symbols and experiences, while sharing a space designed to make those differences visible.