fbpx

Artist Nidhi Moghariya Confronts Patriarchy in the Art World

Nidhi Moghariya and her work are a welcome breath of fresh air amid the patriarchal dynamic of the art world.


For centuries, art has inspired and empowered people around the world. From renaissance to modern artists, painters have used their work to express their thoughts, emotions, and perspectives. Even though creativity is known to be a more feminine aspect of our species, it is a sad reality that, throughout history, celebrated and accredited artists are almost all men.

Photo: Nidhi Moghariya, Artist

Nidhi Moghariya and her work are a welcome breath of fresh air amid the patriarchal dynamic of the art world. Nidhi is a self-taught Indian artist, currently based in the USA. Throughout her childhood, Nidhi was often surrounded by bright colors and complex patterns – elements that are woven throughout almost every Indian festival and celebration – and, along with the natural world around her, she found these to be of great inspiration.

While she developed a strong affinity and interest for art in her youth, she went on to study engineering, as it seemed to be a more viable career path. However, after completing her studies, she made the bold move of relocating to the US and this opened up her eyes and mind to an entirely different perspective of the world and of herself. It was this shift that led her to think outside of the box, allowing her creativity to expand.

She started to draw inspiration from her life journey – from her youthful curiosity to her studies of the beautiful traditional dance of Bharatanatyam, to the complex challenges of becoming a woman, to the experience of building a new life in a new country. As a result, she had the vision to break down her semi-realistic portraits into textured patterns and colors, helping her to develop a completely unique style.

Photo: Nidhi Moghariya

Nidhi believes the role played by women in our society is greatly undervalued, overshadowed by long-existing patriarchal norms. Through her work, she aims to shift this imbalance by exploring the range of emotions of women to depict more than just the delicate smile of standard beauty that is celebrated through the lens of the male gaze – something tame that can be controlled.

By breaking her images into vividly colored fragments and patterns, she helps to shatter the biases that far too often bind women, such as their skin color or facial features. She is constantly blown away by the fact that even as women bear the weight of so much judgment, injustice, and suffering, each one is still a vision of amazing beauty, grace, and strength. She wants every shape and color on her canvas to portray one of the many emotions felt by women.

Photo: Nidhi Moghariya, Sunflower

Nidhi likes to be very precise about depicting facial expressions and features. Her audience is drawn in and left enthralled by her powerful paintings. She makes the women in her paintings look strong, fearless, and confident. She is known to capture these characteristics exceptionally well with her use of color and texture. She also plays with hints of light and shadow to add depth. She incorporates different shades of green, blue, red, and pink to create mesmerizingly beautiful portraits of women and their eyes are sure to reach deep within your soul.

Her paintings have already garnered so much attention and admiration that she was featured in the famous art magazine, The City Of Cupertino Scenes, as an emerging artist. Nidhi also had the privilege of being nominated as one of the frontrunners of the prestigious Bombay Sapphire Artisan Series and is currently being represented by one of the finest art galleries in the Chicago area, Gallery Guichard.

 

© YFS Magazine. All Rights Reserved. Copying prohibited. All material is protected by U.S. and international copyright laws. Unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this material is prohibited. Sharing of this material under Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International terms, listed here, is permitted.

   

In this article