PROFESSIONAL CATEGORY
Tarabai Shinde
Oil on Canvas 35 × 39 inch
Awarded a cash prize of Rs 50,000/-

Shine, born in 1997 and based in Pondicherry, is a self-taught portrait artist with a full-time career as a Software Research Analyst. A graduate in French literature, she also pursued an MBA in Travel and Tourism Management. Starting her artistic journey in 2016 with charcoal portraits, Shine later transitioned to oil painting, focusing on social issues and marginalized communities. Her work, The Portrait of Fathima Sheik, was added to the permanent collection at the Pondicherry Art Akademy in 2025.For Shine, art is a platform for advocacy, highlighting the resilience and dignity of marginalized people. Through her paintings, she seeks to amplify voices often overlooked, celebrating their strength and defiance while confronting uncomfortable truths.

"Tarabai Shinde" is a 35x39 inch oil on canvas portrait from a 50-piece series. Born in 1850, Shinde was a pioneering feminist activist, best known for her 1882 work Stri Purush Tulna, which critiqued patriarchy and called for women's emancipation. As India's first feminist literary critic, she challenged societal norms, including the expectation for women to marry and bear children. Despite facing ridicule and silence after her work's publication, Shinde’s contributions to feminism remain significant. . This portrait aims to give Shinde a visual presence, capturing her strength, intellect, and the resilience she embodied as a reformer. This piece, while speculative in form, aims to immortalize a person who fought for equality and justice, ensuring that her legacy is seen and remembered.