B. Prabha More Art

B. Prabha was born in the village of Bela, near Nagpur in Maharashtra. Growing up in a close-knit, middle-class family, she studied at the Nagpur School of Art and went on to pursue a Diploma in painting and mural painting from Sir J.J. School of Art, Mumbai. Prabha’s signature style fully evolved after her marriage to fellow artist B. Vithal in 1956, when she moved from modern abstract forms to a more decorative figuration. She held her first joint exhibition with her husband the same year. It is interesting to note that B. Prabha was a practicing female artist in an age where women were unapologetically oppressed, and it is no surprise therefore that Prabha used her own position as an artist to make strong comments on the same. While her work today might seem like a simple documentation of the figures of rural women, it must be taken into account that a few decades ago these might have been an ode to the spirit and the plight of these women.