Getting Under Her Skin

In her debut solo show, ‘Under My Skin’, recently concluded in Delhi, she delves into her own body—literally and metaphorically—searching for the root of her anxiety and paranoia.

- Reena Ajith

Fingers, scratched, bloodied, severed. Hands tugging at intestines. Ribs pried open. A pair of forceps hovering just above your eyeball—close to make you flinch. Graphic images evoke claustrophobia; they make you uncomfortable—and they are on the canvases of Khandelwal, a fine arts graduate of Singapore’s Lasalle College of the Arts.

“When you talk about mental health, the problem is visible. It’s under the surface,” she says. “I have a tendency to be paranoid and that’s when I realise this needed to be talked about. It happens to many people.”

In her ‘Autopsy’ series, Khandelwal dissects herself organ by organ. As the series progresses, the surgery turns increasingly visceral and thought-provoking. “It’s not easy to get rid of something that’s within you. When it becomes something you can’t shake off, then it starts to feel like a parasite, growing inside you,” says Khandelwal. In her paintings, organs morph into unsettling forms—as centipedes, weeds, and sometimes even a four-finned yellow palm.