Courtesy of the artist and Janakpur Women’s Development Center
Sudhira Karna began her painting career by making kohbar, ceremonial marriage paintings that depict religious-mythological stories, animals related to gods, and other traditional icons. After completing a project that required her to paint jungle animals, she began to depict animals drawn from her own imagination, using them as motifs rather than human fgures in otherwise human day-to-day scenes. Her works also show the growing agency of women in her village, including their ability to now travel independently on bicycles and contribute to the local economy.