Being born in a family of art connoisseurs, art came naturally to Tara Anand. The teen artist who is currently pursuing a BFA in Illustration from the School of Visual Arts in New York has recently come out with a book Warrior Women. The illustrated book features twelve warrior women with brief word portraits and snippets which give a peek into their turbulent and fascinating lives.
SheThePeople.TV spoke with Tara Anand to know more about her passion for art, her preferred mediums and the idea behind this book.
How does it feel to culminate your art into a book for young children?
It feels amazing! Tulika is a publisher whose books I read a lot as a child so this is very cool for me!
When was the first time you put together the series on warrior women and what was the thinking behind putting this collection together?
The first time I put the series together was 2016. I've always held the belief that the female side of history is almost totally untold and a project like this is my way of contributing in a small way to fixing that. A children's book ensures that the series has a tangible, impactful form.
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Warrior Women by Tara Anand, Picture Credit: Tulika Books
Some of the women are not queens but just ordinary women who made an impact, the list includes women from more regions of the country and are more diverse in terms of class and caste.
Share a bit about who these warrior women are?
Most of them are the warrior queens from my illustrations in 2016, however, we updated the list a bit to make it more intersectional and diverse. Some of the women are not queens but just ordinary women who made an impact, the list includes women from more regions of the country and are more diverse in terms of class and caste.
In 2016 you showcased a few of these works at the Feminist Conference by SheThePeople - are you planning to continue your art on digital or experimenting with other media as well?
My personal work lately has been primarily in traditional mediums! I enjoy traditional media a lot more than digital and I hope more of my finished work this year ends up being traditionally done.
Are books going to be a regular for Tara Anand ahead? What are the plans ahead?
Books are my favourite form of media so I've always wanted to put my art in book form. I don't have any plans immediately but fingers crossed for the future!
Books are my favourite form of media so I've always wanted to put my art in book form.
What’s your message to mothers and young children about reading books about Indian women’s history?
Only that you can be sure that whatever you're reading is just the tip of the iceberg. Women's history is vast, complex and waiting to be explored!
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Tara Anand's illustrations
Also Read: At 17, artist and feminist Tara Anand is already changing the world
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