3 Artists Celebrating Womanhood With Refreshingly Realistic Portrayals

3 Artists Celebrating Womanhood With Refreshingly Realistic Portrayals
L: Nivedita R: Maithili Joshi

Growing up as a girl in a heteronormative and patriarchal society, there are certain cues you pick up along the way as to how you are expected to be and if you don’t catch onto these not-so-subtle cues, they are shoved down your throat. As women, we are expected to perform certain roles, give a performance for the gender attributed to us, not take up too much space, and not voice our opinions too much. The list is endless.

Along the way you also end up noticing the binary lens through which women are perceived, you’re either a good woman or a bad woman, either considered inferior or placed on a pedestal. In the sense of this binary, we fail to look at women as complex, nuanced, and thinking beings.

These 3 artists are moving away from this outdated view with their honest and realistic portrayals of women.

Kolkata-based illustrator Joyeeta, known famously as Joyeeta.joyart on Instagram, has been able to amass a good following owing to her honest portrayal of women. Her artworks don’t shy away from showing women in all their natural and abundant glory; in their own bodies, whether fat or thin and with their cellulite bellies and broad shoulders. The most accurate analysis of her work is perhaps a caption she wrote in one of her posts, she says, “One of the most important kinds of empowerment is acknowledgement. The first step. Existence. That you are. You will be. And you always were. What better way to speak about your story?”

Maithili Joshi, is an Indian illustrator based out of New York, whose work primarily draws inspiration from her personal experiences and her South Asian upbringing. Working with a combination of pencil, watercolour and digital mediums, her artworks tap into the experience of growing up as a girl as well as just moments of being. Her illustrations often show women just engaging in daily activities, whether it is a swim or an adventure in a garden.

Visual designer and illustrator Nivedita’s illustrations as presented on her Instagram page are dedicated to representing South Asian women in all their forms and beauty. In an earlier interview with Homegrown she had said, “I genuinely think most people around me are super beautiful and I am confused at why we’ve created such strange beauty standards. My effort is to draw South Asian women just as they are — adorable, intelligent, and diverse!” Her artwork doesn’t portray women as extraordinary per se but rather, just as they are; with their natural beauty and playfulness captured perfectly.

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