Rekha Rodwittiya

Rekha Rodwittiya (born 31 October 1958 ) is a contemporary Indian artist associated with the Baroda School. She is known for her allegorical and metaphoric narrative paintings depicted through the style of surrealism and magical realism. She conducts an art studio in Vadodara called The Collective Studio, jointly with her husband and artist Surendran Nair.

Biography Rekha was born on 31 October 1958, in the city of Bangalore, Karnataka. Rekha was the younger of two sisters and her parents were South India while she was looked after mostly by her mother as her father was an Indian air force pilot.

She joined the fine arts academy of the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda in 1976, at a time when the city of witnessing the emergence of a hipster culture and the rise of a number of pre-eminent contemporary artists such as Bhupen Khakhar, Gulam Mohammed Sheikh and Jyoti Bhatt. The marriage broke down while she was pregnant which led to divorce and her becoming a single mother while still in college. During this period, her parents began to take care of her son which allowed her to continue her education.

On returning to India, Rodwittiya received a teaching appointment at the MS University of Baroda but it not renewed due to her outspoken feminist views which were considered controversial. She also met the artist Surendran Nair during this time, who became a close friend of hers and eventually married her in 1985.