Meet Kaleidolite, the artist whose Instagram series on Indian women achievers is a must-see

From featuring India’s first renowned female modern artist — Amrita Sher-Gil to one of the first performers to record music on 78 rpm records in India — Gauhar Jaan, Shwetha Ramraj aka Kaleidolite is setting a Wacom style visual art trend of sorts with her latest series, ‘Faces Of India’. The series predominantly features pioneering Indian women achievers across various fields.

Did you know Tessy Thomas was the first woman engineer to head a missile project in India?  This ‘Missile Woman of India’; Bachendri Pal — the first Indian woman to summit of Mount Everest; and Anandi Gopal Joshi — the first Indian female physician, among others are being featured in the digital artist’s series. We caught up with the 25-year-old artist to find out more about these simple yet strong artworks, and she said mainstream chatter doesn’t really bring out the stories of these women who have done the most revolutionary things. True isn’t it? We couldn’t agree more.“I’ve always been curious about what drove certain individuals to pursue their dream despite all odds. Subjects close to my heart like photojournalism, mountaineering, music and science is where I started searching and I was awestruck by the sheer drive of these amazing women who could make it happen and did,” she told us. What surprised us was that Ramraj is self-taught and the Mysore-based artist who now teaches french at a high school, is actually a BCom graduate and holds a Masters degree in French. Always exploring new styles of art, it looks like she is definitely taking digital art to the next level. Shwetha in the past has often worked on art pieces inspired by Frida Khalo, Buddha and Lord Shiva. [caption id=“attachment_3419156” align=“alignnone” width=“824”]  Digital artworks of Shwetha Ramraj. Courtesy - Instagram/Kaleidolite[/caption] “I am always inspired by real women who stood out, chose to be different and strove through, like Frida Khalo and Amrita Sher-Gill being a huge inspiration,” says Shwetha. Kaliedolite, as she is known on Instagram, like many artists started off with canvas and her love for the medium continues. “I’ll always be loyal to the canvas, yet my latest experimentation with  Wacom has opened up a whole new dimension for me. Wacom tablet gave me a whole new perspective to digital art and hence the switch,” she says. Her Instagram page is galore of fascinating art and an occasional quirky LIVE stream of the making of many such pieces. [caption id=“attachment_3419162” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  The Mandala spacing series by Shwetha Ramraj. Courtesy - Instagram/Kaleidolite[/caption] Not just that, the budding artist’s Mandala spacing artworks are also noteworthy. “Mandala has always been my personal form of meditation. Works like magic! Try it,” she says.  Yes, magic with a psychedelic touch we must say! Shwetha will soon be launching her ‘meditation by art’ colouring book project,  for all ages, that will enable one to discover their inner artist. [caption id=“attachment_3422074” align=“alignnone” width=“537”]  Shwetha Ramraj with her Mandala spacing artwork.[/caption] “Don’t be afraid to be you!” is Shwetha’s message, as she signs off.