In this untitled work, the artist has depicted a dreamy-looking reclining woman wearing a mask on her face and a horse-head glove-puppet on her right hand. The figure is faced by the head and bust of a woman with flowing black hair, perhaps representing another aspect of herself. Steps leading to the bed are covered by the hair of the woman and descend into a strip of water in the foreground. On the left, we see a small pink turtle emerging. In the background, we notice elements of a landscape such as trees, an archway with a door and a waterfall.

In her early works, the artist used collage and assemblage techniques, utilizing elements from pictures which had been discarded to create new work. Later Tara developed a dreamy yet vibrant pictorial language which used mixed materials such as watercolours, crayon, acrylics, with striking chromatic resonances and built-up effects, that achieve a suggestive quality of intimacy. Tara often uses sweeping strokes and frenetic, choppy gestures to fill the picture plane. Figures are simple and are almost child-like in their scratchy construction.

In her small, two-dimensional works, reminiscent of miniature paintings, Tara's figures can be read ambiguously. Often the same pictorial space contains recognizable objects superimposed on each other: the ridge of a hill also acting as the spine of an animal etc. This is something which also has a precedent in the Indian tradition where one large animal contains within its contours the tessellated forms of many other animals.

Tara Sabharwal was born in New Delhi in 1957 into a Sikh Punjabi family. From 1975-1980 Tara studied painting at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Baroda (India) and later, from 1982-1984 at the London Royal College of Art. Since 1976 her work has been included in a variety of shows, following her success at the RCA. In 1985 Tara moved back to India for 3 years and returned to UK from 1989-90 as Artist in residence at Darlington art center, Co Durham and the following year at Durham Cathedral, Durham. In 1990 she moved to New York City where she lives and works with her husband and son, while continuing to exhibit internationally and spend time in India and UK.