• San Jose based Tibrewala has been creating powerful images of brown women in her paintings to create a balanced narrative in art

SAN JOSE, CA (TIP): Artist and activist Sujata Tibrewala believes that art can change narratives and can bring important changes in the world as we see it. To mark the ongoing Women’s History Month, Tibrewala who is known for her feminist paintings has started a new social media trend. Entitled #BrownWomeninArt Sujata is urging all women artists to come ahead and show women of colors in their artwork. Talking about this initiative Sujata says, “As an artist of color, living and working in the United States, I have myself seen how the art space can be skewed in one direction. We do not very often see women artists of color in mainstream and worse still we rarely do see women of color as the subject of paintings or art works. The whole idea is to make our presence mainstream. The aim of this campaign is to invite all women of color in the West to share their art and show the power of choosing what we want the world to see.”

On what inspired Sujata to start this trend, she says, “A number of things happening around us in America herald change and our unmistakable presence. We have a woman first ever Vice President who is proud of her heritage, we just had a South Asian origin woman Swati Mohan leading the Mars mission, even the otherwise period white drama Bridgerton on Netflix announced that their next season would have an Indian origin lady in the lead. These are all important moments. It is how we use these signs to pave our way that will make all the difference.”

Talking about her paintings, Sujata says, “From the moment I began painting, I felt drawn to the idea of presenting the story from a woman’s perspective, in my paintings. I also subconsciously found my women not as the meek spectators but as important contributors, rebels, innovators and protagonists in the story. Like for instance, I had been actively following and championing the cause of Indian farmers recently and some of my works about rural India were told through the eyes of women farmers.” According to Sujata, often what also stops women in art, especially women of color in art is the fear of treading into territories that people may think should be no-go for them. Its’ not uncommon, that as an artist of Indian origin, I have been asked by art exhibitors to show my works only showing mythology or ethnic history. My answer to it is – while I am equally proud to showcase my heritage and history, I want to be an active participant in the world around me and talk about everything from white supremacy to racism to consumerism all everything under the sun, as we see in America today.”

She adds, “As more and more women of color come together, we would hopefully see a lot more commendable work than we actually get to see, and this is the entire purpose of this small effort.”