India, Jan. 23 -- What exactly is 'women's work'? Is femininity in art meant to play out only as 'delicate', 'intricate' and less visible labour? How does the Indian contemporary female identity find a place in art after a long history of being shut out? It was while seeking these answers as part of my practice that I discovered the work of Rithika Merchant.

Many artists translate myths and symbols into visual stories, but Merchant's versions are specifically about the feminine, via vibrant, even otherworldly, imagery. The 39-year-old artist, an alumna of the Parsons School of Design in New York, paints serpents, eyes, orbs, fish and strange anthropomorphic hybrid creatures. They could belong to folklore and tales from any part of the wo...