Dola Shikder

Dola Shikder is a Baroda-based artist who draws from her personal experiences of growing up as a woman in an orthodox society. In her recent series of works, she explores a dialectic experience of the body, the pain of inhabiting one, simultaneously against the pain of losing it. These concerns arise from migration, experiences, and its effects and changes on the body in space and time. It relates to envisioning the body as an animalistic identity entwined with fear of extinction, or endangerment. Further, migrational transformations upon the body translate this fear through entities of culture and regionality

Dola Shikder is currently in the 4th year of pursuing her BVA in Painting from the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda. Shikder’s practice is based on her personal experiences of femininity. She grew up in an orthodox society and transitioned into one where everything is changing rapidly while she’s still grappling for her freedom of expression. On the other hand, she’s also witnessing times when individualism is being promoted in a very systematic way. Having gone through such experiences, Shikder raises many fundamental questions through her body of work. In her practice, she aims to find herself and gain a better understanding of the conflicting times that she is part of. Her works explore different materials and mediums while experimenting with new visuals and cultures of the era.