Myth-making in a modern context

In 'The Personal is Mythical', three artists connect the personal and the universal, the real and the imaginary

- Avantika Bhuyan

The Personal is Mythical exhibition at Delhi's Latitude 28 gallery, you can see a series of canvases featuring female figures with fish heads. Each of these hybrid women is dressed in a sari, with a dainty necklace around the throat and blooms in the hair. They seem to be in various moods of contemplation—one is holding a book, another is staring into emptiness while seated on a settee.

For Neha Sahai, a 39-year-old artist, the fish motif becomes a symbol of feminine energy. Her works—spanning oil, acrylic, gouache and ink—reject the "idealised depictions of female divinity" in favour of a feminine energy imbued with gentle strength. "Fish is symbolic of feminine energy, which is all-pervasive. It has nothing to do with gender. Even men or male beings in nature can have female energy. It's all about balance," she says.