Hyderabad: Shakuntala Patade isn’t the typical angry activist. At 80, she carries out activism through the most beautiful medium – art. And in a subtly balanced manner, her canvases carry the darkest undertones of the evils that plague women while infusing hues of hope. Fittingly titled Hues of Destiny, Shakuntala’s art show in the city will be on this week. The self-taught artist vents out anger and concerns such as female foeticide and trafficking, in all her works.
‘Shakutai’ started painting at 40. She recalls, “A friend brought some canvases and paints over and wanted me to paint. Even I felt this compelling need to take something out of my system and I did.” Her initial work included seven nudes and then the rage against “injustice” took over. Since then, everything that she has earned through art has gone towards contributing to the fight against issues plaguing women. “Since I discovered the gift late in life, I felt like it must be used to give back,” she says.
Having grown up in a family with an activist father and a teacher, Shakutai spent her early professional life as a teacher in Mumbai, before the activist in her woke up with art. “My mother, who came from a well off family, was surprised to see her husband work with people who lived with pigs. He was a great man but died very young,” says the Pune-based artist. After her father’s death, her mother, a Tamilian from Bengaluru, moved to Mumbai. Shakuntala moved to Pune in the early ’90s.
“At school, I did not teach my students anything. In fact, they taught me a lot of things,” she laughs. However, Mumbai was a great teacher, as she would venture out to observe prostitutes in the city. Meanwhile, her show in Hyderabad aims at raising funds towards Udbhav School, in Rasoolpura — an institution that supports children from underprivileged background, with 60 per cent of the students being girls.
