Untitled (Kinnari Series)

Among the many hybrid creatures that Gogi Saroj Pal has painted over the decades, the most loved are her birdwoman composites, referred to as kinnaris in ancient Indian texts. While their male versions, kinnaras, are regarded as celestial musicians and are represented in sculpture and art throughout the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, Pal’s kinnaris suggest the freedom that wings bequeath to a woman—even if only in imagination—the ability to fly free even when bogged down by the banality of the chores of one’s lives.