Dark Matter

Her latest work is introspective and macabre, where echoes of Sylvia Plath trickle into an exploration of today’s shape-shifting culture. ANJU DODIYA’s upcoming solo exhibit is full of exquisite surprises

- Deepanjana Pal

It’s the eyes you see first—wide and fearful but ferocious. Crouched at the bottom of a mattress that has been tautly stretched to form a perfect circle, is a woman. Her head and hands are visible. She has an open book before her and a page held between her teeth. Shielding her is a chair that has been impaled with arrows. A crimson curtain hangs on one side, perhaps obscuring or revealing the eater of books. For now, she seems safe. Until you realise that her body has been swallowed by the black and white serrations of the houndstooth pattern that forms the canvas for this painting. Is she pulling herself out or will the rest of her be dragged in?

FEAR FACTOR

“I make constructions of fear. It’s just what I do,” says Anju Dodiya when I ask her about the snarling danger in her new works, which are all over the artist’s studio. In the unpretentious and crowded Mumbai suburb of Ghatkopar, this sparsely furnished, white-walled apartment feels like a sanctuary. Paints and brushes are arranged neatly in niches. Sketches are pinned on walls. Everything has its place. Some items linger on from an analogue time—faded photographs, music CDs, books. Lacing the air is a hint of the sweet aroma from the rose tea she’s just brewed. Freshly painted artworks are neatly arranged against the walls, the faces in them keeping an eye on us, as Dodiya speaks to me about art and being an artist. A few lie bubble-wrapped on the floor. “These are done,” says Dodiya. “They’re sleeping.”