By Creating Lovely Doodles Based On Her Rheumatoid Arthritis, This Indian Artist Turned Her Diagnosis Into Inspiration

Three years, 11 months, 3 days ago. I recall clearly the day that I was staring down at the report in disbelief reading a word that I barely knew how to pronounce. That day changed my life. From being someone who jumped into waterfalls without a thought, I suddenly became someone who could no longer lift a glass of water or walk up a flight of stairs with ease.

For someone who has gone backpacking across South America for five months and loves going running with her dog everyday, the news of being diagnosed with Rheumatoid arthritis (RA), drained Antima Nahar into believing that she would never be able to be as adventurous as she had been before. A condition that affected Nahar’s joints gravely not only make her struggle to pour wine into her glass but experience the kind of physical pain that most of us can barely imagine--let alone experience.
Although, like any other artist, Nahar pulled herself up and used her condition as a source of inspiration. She explains to Homegrown, “For the uninitiated, RA causes excruciating pain in the joints amongst many other things. And this pain is governed by diet and activity to weather and emotions. In short--everything. My doctor suggested I keep a journal so as to better manage my condition and that was the start of it all. I replaced the journal with a sketchbook and started to draw everything I was feeling, thinking, eating or drinking.”

Inside Nahar’s sketchbook are bittersweet drawings that poignantly illustrate her life. Before she knew it, the artist ended up creating a character, Stripy, in her book who began living her struggles with her. Now her book is filled with thoughts that she wouldn’t have payed attention to if her doctor didn’t insist upon recording her life with RA.
She says, “The sketchbook is my release, my meditation, my therapy and my friend. But most of all it is my way of saying ‘fuck you RA’. I won’t let no swollen and painful wrists stop me from drawing. There is a little victory, each time I pick up the pen, each time I finish a doodle and each time I post. With every like and share on social media, I feel the universe is supporting my battle and my smile grows just a little bit more. And somewhere deep inside I know that it is this growing smile that will eventually defeat my RA.”

And we hope she does, because if her swollen joints could produce such highly vivid and quirky illustrations, we can only imagine what is next under the folds of her determination. On a side note, in Turkish philosophy, the word ‘Hüzün’ denotes melancholy, which is not private but communal. We feel that Nahar’s witty illustrations have become a pathway for her pain to reach out to people, so that we don’t just understand bitterness of being diagnosed with RA but also gladly share it with her. 

Follow her and Stripey’s journey here to make sure you don’t miss the next illustration.