Rekha Rao: An Artist of Our Times

ere is an artist, socially conscious, aesthetically sophisticated, patiently expressionistic and visually as well as verbally articulate. Rekha Rao’s works are the products of her social consciousness, a sort of vast and deep empathy with the surrounding lands, people and other beings. This empathy often comes in her works as narratives that defy the traditional forms of figurative and episodic story telling. There is a story and there are visual hints to read and interpret it. Those who are familiar with the ethos of the artist, the context of her half a century old career as a visual artist, could understand these narratives easily by following the visual trails within the canvas. Those newly initiated viewers into her works of art also could make meaningful engagements because in her particular narratives lay embedded the general themes, the pressing issues of our times, mainly the environmental ones that the artist holds dear to her heart.