VILLUPURAM: She is hearing - and - speech-impaired and lives with a curved spine. Yet, when she sits before a canvas, these realities fade away, and a striking sense of grace and sensibility — which in her own words are inspired by the traditional style of Raja Ravi Varma – emerges in her strokes. Visitors who see her paintings displayed in her house at Parthasarathy Nagar, or hear about it in the neighbourhood, often bring photographs and place requests for custom-made portraits. That is how 43-year-old N Dhanalaksmi’s life in the quiet neighbourhood of Vazhudhareddy in Villupuram is subtly challenging the society’s idea of limitation.
Dhanalakshmi’s primary challenges began after she lost partial hearing during Class 2. Soon after, she also lost her grasp of vocabulary and developed a spine disability resulting from an autoimmune condition. “She can now only speak in a childlike voice and with a limited vocabulary that she remembers from the last time she was able to speak and hear well,” said N Gopalakrishnan (35) who works as a professor at an engineering college in Mailam.
A year later, her formal education came to a halt. Hereafter, learning for her took place informally out of curiosity, through observation, and the efforts of her brother and sisters. They would read aloud sentences to her from newspapers so she could pick up the little words she could and acquire lip-reading skills. It was during these years that her love for fine arts began to take shape in the form of cartoons.
Seeing her initially observe and imitate cartoons from newspapers, her supportive family members intentionally exposed her to classical painting through books and other popular. This fuelled her inspiration to pursue, and eventually master, traditional painting.
Living with her parents and brother, and having them bet on her potential, the self-taught painter began dedicating time to her craft at the age of 23. “There were no art schools, mentors, or structured lessons, but only instinct and inner drive,” says her brother. “Over time, she taught herself to translate what she felt into images, producing remarkably realistic paintings that leave viewers surprised and moved. She wants to be known through her paintings.”
Slowly, by word-of-mouth, the late bloomer painter gained recognition in her neighbourhood and began receiving patrons at her doorstep. ‘Profound’ and ‘rare’ are the words S Pooja (27), a content creator from Mugaiyur, ascribes to Dhanalakshmi’s tapped potential. “I met her for filming her story for an online content. I was so surprised to see how effortlessly she paints and carries a charm. Her disability vanishes when we witness her remarkable skill, and that’s what makes her an amazing artist,” Pooja said, endorsing the disabled painter.
Dhanalakshmi also writes poetry, another medium through which she expresses thoughts she cannot speak aloud, said her brother, who is taking care of her.
Sitting by the easel for long hours causes her bodily pain, which, even though it is treated regularly with medicines, forces Dhanalakshmi to take frequent breaks. However, she always returns with patience and determination to paint beautiful women, children, and scenes from nature with warmth and precision. Surpassing its purpose as a means of livelihood and recognition, art has become her identity. “My body may have disabilities, but my art does not,” is a belief she said she lives by and wishes to carry till the last breath of her life, even though she could not coherently express these feelings in words.
Despite her physical challenges, Dhanalakshmi strives for independence and prefers not to rely too much on others. She uses online platforms to purchase art supplies and meet her personal expenses using the income she generates from custom-made portraits. She dreams of exhibiting her artworks to a larger audience one day and being timelessly remembered for her art.