Self Portrait at Nathdwara

Artist Anju Dodiya (born 1964)

dated 1999, Acrylic on canvas
24 x 24 in. (61 x 61 cm.)

Anju is a prominent contemporary Indian artist, whose work is characterized by a fusion of autobiography, allegory, and mythology. She primarily works with watercolour, charcoal, and pastel, pushing these mediums to their expressive limits. This painting captures Dodiya’s personal experience during a visit to the Nathdwara temple—a place known for its dense crowds and intense rush during darshan. On one such visit, overwhelmed by the throng of devotees and the pressure from all sides, she felt an almost physical weight on her head. As an artist, she internalized this sensation and expressed it symbolically by clenching a pencil between her teeth, a gesture that conveyed both resistance and tension.

Through this self-portrait, Dodiya transforms a moment of spiritual and physical intensity into an introspective artistic expression. Using minimal color and delicate shadows, she evokes the emotional weight of the experience, while maintaining an ethereal, almost meditative quality. The painting becomes not just a record of her darshan at Nathdwara, but a poetic response to the psychological and sensory pressure of the moment.