This print was made by a young artist of Indian descent who turned to Hinduism in the late 1990s. She has made several portraits of friends who have helped her to recognise her own strengths. The portraits refer to both a new-found religious faith and contemporary role models (Grace Jones, for example), as well as to the individual friends themselves. They also refer to the goddess Kali, destroyer of fear and consort of Shiva. Usually shown nude but highly ornamented with jewels, Kali is both terrifying and seductive.

In this portrait the figure’s torpedo-like nipples, massive thighs, clumsy fists and wrinkled elbows confront rather than seduce the viewer, and the figure is barely contained within the frame. The artist presents an almost revisionist view of the nude, which celebrates the effects of hard labour, independence and ageing as much as it recognises youthful sexuality.