Credits: Upper L - Indu Antony. Bottom L to R - Spandita Malik & Anju Dodiya.
With Women’s Day right around the corner, there is no better time than now to embrace stories told by women, about women. The female experience ranges widely across the world, and creating art becomes a way of representing these many different stories and, through them, the many different kinds of women who live them. These books, films and artworks stand as reflections of the multidimensional identities of women everywhere.
Books
Chitra Bannerjee Divakaruni
It would be a shame not to begin this list with an author whose oeuvre consists of fierce, independent women written masterfully. Many of her books such as Palace of Illusions, or Forest of Enchantments, work with mythical female characters like Sita or Draupadi, and transform them into real, human people with flaws, just like anybody else, which is what makes them so readable.
Avni Doshi
Avni has long been drawn to domestic spaces and the intensity of private relationships. The domestic sphere, often dismissed as private and apolitical, is for her where we birth and bring up citizens. Her debut, Girl In White Cotton, traces the volatile relationship between mother and daughter, and her very awaited, upcoming book The First House, is also all set to explore the interior lives of women.
Mieko Kawakami
This Japanese writer and poet, who has won many literary awards for her work that has been widely translated into many languages, writes narratives that are deeply critical of Japan’s patriarchal and heteronormative society. Breasts and Eggs, and Sisters in Yellow, are specifically two of her works that boldly question the status quo.
Films
Greta Gerwig
The fire that keeps Greta Gerwig’s creative juices flowing must certainly be a constant push to represent different kinds of women on screen. In Frances Ha, a New York woman apprentices for a dance company and throws herself headlong into her dreams, even as the possibility of realizing them dwindles. Lady Bird, Little Women and Barbie, her consequent films, also have leading protagonists who are commendable, fragile, believable women.
Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy
The work of Pakistani filmmaker and journalist Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy stands at the intersection of storytelling and activism. Through her extensive research, she brings to light the lives of Pakistani women. Her films Saving Face and A Girl in the River, document the realities of acid attacks and honour killings, which are stories that would otherwise remain unheard.
Sofia Coppola
Sofia’s exploration of women’s lives is a little gentler and quieter. Nevertheless, she presents a careful study on the emotions of women: loneliness, desire, isolation, grief, heartbreak. Marie Antoinette, The Virgin Suicides and Lost in Translation are some films from her body of work that document the inner worlds of women.
Artwork
Spandita Malik
Meshes of Resistance, Spandita’s series that documents gender based violence in India, helps women reclaim stories that were designed to hurt them. Using empathy, shared strength, and the belief that art can be a form of healing, this project treats affected women with kindness and respect.
Anju Dodiya
Frames of Anju Dodiya’s paintings are often faces of women that appear introspective, and existing in their everyday life. She draws from myth, memory and often aims to study the simultaneously intimate and theatrical aspects of women’s lives. Marching with Mirrors and Arachne’s Walk are some examples.
Indu Antony
An artist based out of Bangalore and Kerala, Indu’s series Cecilia’ed looks at disrupting normative notions of gender in public spaces by working with neighbourhood spaces that are marked ‘unsafe’ for women. It features a joyous, vibrant woman, dressed to her own comfort, embracing herself.
Words Platform Desk
Date 5.3.2026