Shakuntala has expressed her concern with the life of women through different mediums and practices. Apart from this abiding subject matter, there is another element that connects Shakuntala’s varied practices. This is her drawing practice. Shakuntala Kulkarni makes drawings constantly and compulsively. Entering her studio is like entering a cave with drawings all around you. There are drawings on walls, on boards, and pieces of paper pinned on doors. It seems that all the artist's ideas find their first expression in drawings. The ideas for her cane armour and costumes, her installation works and also her videos, have all taken shape through countless drawings. Shakuntala has exhibited her drawings with work in other media in many of her exhibitions, and viewers are familiar with her drawing practice. It is however after many years that she is here presenting a full exhibition devoted only to drawings, all recent. Drawing has been central to the artist’s multi-faceted practice and this exhibition of drawings allows us to focus on an elementary aspect of the artist’s creative process. Though these are all conceived as independent and finished drawings, they share the spontaneous and raw quality of her preparatory work. Shakuntala uses a range of mediums for her drawings. There are large charcoal drawings on handmade paper here; and there are also small reverse drawings in demography pencil and acrylic on museum acrylic sheet and glass. The variety of thick, thin, sinuous, regular or scraggly lines and the density of charcoal have made the exhibition a visual treat.

The interesting series 'Swaha' consists of twenty-one small reverse drawings done in acrylic on glass. The individual drawings are arranged as a procession. The similar looking women in each are all of a firm bearing and are seen walking forward holding what appears to be strangely shaped headgears above their heads. ‘Swaha’ is a term chanted at the end of a mantra, or in a ritual yadnya offering. It denotes an auspicious ending. The women in the procession seem to be moving forward to make a final offering of their burden and make themselves free agents. The series is a fitting finale to the exploration of injustice, exploitation and resistance in this exhibition. It gestures towards the possible release from a state of bondage, towards emaciation and fulfilment.