Dipti Kulkarni is a New Jersey resident is a Software Engineer by profession and an Artist by passion. We have featured her compelling work on our site before, where she uses her creative skills to speak about some of the issues that plague many women across her native country India, whether it be feticide, honor killings, or rape.
Born in Nashik India, Dipti is an established, internationally acclaimed artist who had several Solo exhibits in India and in USA. In 2014, she had launched her 15 painting- series on “Women’s Rights and Empowerment” that gained popularity and recognition.
These works were exhibited at various places in the US, and Dipti also had several solo exhibitions in Nashik to create social awareness through art. She believes that art can speak and touch hearts. Like many other feminists and activists we have featured on the site who use art and illustration as a way to share powerful messages to disrupt the mainstream, Dipti also uses creative mediums as a way to express her thoughts on some very important topics.
Dipti’s most recent poem titled “Four Wise Men” is a great example of this. The poem is inspired by a specific piece within the “Women’s Rights and Empowerment” series called “Gang Rape” (seen below).
“The poem focuses on the helplessness of a woman. But, in spite of her incapacitation, I want to see women emerge strong. So instead of an expected sad ending, I am trying to shed light on the responsible men in this society as well as bring hope through my poem,” she said.
Like many who are invested in the topic of gender equality, Dipti believes the root cause of the women-related social issues is gender discrimination which is still widespread in global society. Dipti has expressed deep emotions of a woman, and also given a hope through her paintings.
The decision to further her creative passions into poetry came from her painting series “Women’s Empowerment”. Dipti knows the might of words, though earlier she never used it. When her poem “Save Girl”, inspired by her artwork of the same name, won an Award in Shanware competition in USA in 2014, she became motivated to use her artistic skills of writing to supplement her efforts of creating social awareness through art.
She says she wanted to give voice to the emotional trauma of being raped. “Four Wise Men” takes us through that emotional ride.
“I always believe in hope. We live because there is a hope to live. Hope is the root cause why we can constantly look for happiness. And as a result, I never wanted this poem to lose any of that. I wanted the female character or the subject in my poem to get some kind of help at the end. And the only help I can find is if men in this society can help her get out of this situation where she is constantly made to feel weak due to cultural constraints. The key values here are respect, care, responsibility and pride. That’s what I wanted to show through my poem,” said Dipti.
Dipti had actually never ever told anyone that she had written this poem, and then casually applied for a contest. But for the 2nd consecutive year, her poem got an award.
“I happily messaged my husband about this award and then called my parents in India to inform them. My parents were surprised but their voice reflected confidence in my Artistic skills,” Dipti said.
“My mom read this over and over and felt so proud about the fact that I was using my art skills for some good cause. My mom sensed the roller-coaster ride in this poem and felt so happy and relieved that the girl was saved. I am happy that I could convey the message of hope and help correctly,” Dipti continued.
Dipti says every word was carefully chosen to be part of the important message she wants to share. Although she is invested in the issue of gender equality, she admits it is difficult and emotional at times to write her poems because as a woman from India, it is sometimes difficult for her to digest the horrific events other Indian woman are doing through every day.
Nevertheless, the New Jersey-based artist wants people from all over the world to read her poetry and feel the pain behind the words, regardless of which country they are from.
“My idea is to use various art forms to raise social awareness. I consider myself as global citizen and so the poetry is not meant for any specific country or culture or cast or creed or community. It is for humanity,” she concluded.
You can see the poem “Four Wise Men” below:
