Drawing Room: Shrimanti Saha on Nilima Sheikh’s unsettling art

Two works stand out to me. Construction Site, from her famed series, Each Night Put Kashmir in Your Dreams, was made between 2009 and 2010. It’s a large painting and, as the title suggests, depicts a construction site in Kashmir. Workers mill about in the foreground, completing mundane tasks, while residents and the valley’s natural beauty form the backdrop. It’s a comment on the cycle of destruction and renewal that this beautiful region has been subjected to since India’s independence in 1947.

Anyone who’s familiar with Sheikh’s work will immediately recognise her signature colours of muted red, ochre, green and brown. Construction Site is made with casein tempera on canvas, which allows for many layers, both in the physical paint and the ideas it references. I was intrigued by the way she references the style of Persian painter Kamaluddin Bihzad’s miniature works in the central part of the composition. As a freelance illustrator, just starting out at the time, I was unsure of how to incorporate a multitude of sources into my practice. The ease with which Sheikh wove in this ancient technique helped me develop my own style.

The other work is the series of 12 small tempera paintings from 1984, titled When Champa Grew Up. It shows a young girl, Champa, moving from a happy childhood to an arranged marriage, and eventually being burnt to death by her in-laws over demands of dowry. Text borrowed from the Gujarati oral tradition is infused into the works – like an element of grief expressed through song. Sheikh based Champa’s story on news reports of the time, but even in 2025, they hardly seem out of place. I’m drawn to it by how she forces viewers to confront the ugly side of society, but also how many influences she packs into a single work.

Sheikh’s approach to her work comes from decades of working on her craft and objectively paying attention to her country – its communal conflicts, gender-based violence, how India changed and what stayed the same. She studied History at university, and earned her Master’s degree in Fine Arts from Baroda’s Maharaja Sayajirao University, focusing on Western-style oil painting. Inspired by her mentor, KG Subramanyan, she later began to incorporate Indian craft practices and traditions into her work.

I was fortunate to spend time with her as a studio assistant, fresh out of art school. It was a period when I was still attempting to find my direction as an artist. I was most interested in her mood board, filled with reference images from art historical sources. She also drew inspiration from news reports, socio-political issues and personal life experiences. For me, this glimpse into her process has been more important than simply viewing the finished work.

Shrimanti Saha’s works draw from her dreams, works from literature and characters that blur myth and reality.

From HT Brunch, November 1, 2025

Follow us on www.instagram.com/htbrunch