Of Cages and Shrines or Still life with Cat and Bananas

Vasudha Thozhur’s charged paintings are her response to her social environment through which she seeks to see method in the society’s madness. Bright reds sit comfortably with electric blues and yellows in her work, as in this oil. Here, Thozhur uses ‘cage’ and ‘shrine’ in the same breath brilliantly, possibly commenting on the contemporary celebrity culture where the society places a human being high on a pedestal, almost to the point of imprisoning them in their own success. In this painting, a ferocious cat growls at a bunch of bananas, bringing a joyous element to a stark narrative.