An entire balcony wall in Bhendi Bazar became Fatema Halvadwala’s early canvas. As a child, she painted freely, with her mother providing her the space and resources. There were no formal lessons, only the instinct to pick a brush and make sense of what she saw. “I have painted all my life, as far as I can remember,” she says. 

In 2022 the artist formally studied painting, earning a Master of Fine Arts from the New York Academy of Art this year. But the language she found much earlier remains unchanged. “The only way I can process and express my experiences is through paintings,” she says.