When Art Unsettles, it Attracts Criticism
- Artlune
- Sep 17
- 3 min read
We recently went live on Instagram with our artist, Portia Roy. What was planned as a 30-minute chat turned into a deeper conversation about her art, resistance, and empathy. Our followers joined with their questions, but it was Portia’s honest and thoughtful responses that made the session feel real and engaging.
Portia strikingly describes herself: “a stray dog on the streets of India.” For her, this isn’t about self-pity, but about connecting with those who are often overlooked or silenced. She doesn’t romanticise struggle; instead, she sees it as something that shapes her ideas and fuels her art.
Choosing Woodcut as her Medium
Her chosen medium, woodcut engraving, is historically tied to social commentary. For Portia, it’s not just a craft, it’s a process of scratching beneath the surface, both literally and metaphorically, to reveal stories that lie hidden. She compares carving wood to peeling away layers of reality, which demands physical exertion. “That scratching of layers,” she said, “is deeply therapeutic.”
Listening to Portia speak about the role of an artist today, you get the sense that for her, art is never passive. “The role of an artist is to reflect the times they live in,” she explained. For her, this means telling the stories she sees around her, the ones she connects with as a woman and as a human being. These stories don’t arrive pre-planned or carefully staged; they grow organically from her daily observations, fleeting visuals that stick with her until they are engraved.
Accepting the Criticism to Improve her Art
What Portia hopes her art does is simple: create awareness and spark curiosity. She doesn’t try to give answers but wants people to ask questions. For her, if someone stops in front of her work and thinks about the lives of those often ignored, that is enough. As she says, “It’s a sad reality that we are not recognising the people we share this time with.”
Of course, when art unsettles, it also attracts criticism. Portia accepts this with grace.
After all, you can’t be everyone’s cup of tea. Some collectors admire her work but remain silent; others critique it openly. But for her, criticism is welcome, at least the kind that comes from genuine engagement. “If someone has really seen my work and reflected on it, I’m happy to hear what they think,” she said. It helps her grow, and she’s quick to brush off comments that are just trolls or hatred.
Bringing up the stories around us
Portia’s art is shaped by memory as much as by observation. Childhood experiences, family history and personal struggles have all left traces that continue to influence her work. “Things don’t leave you,” she reflected. “They remain, and you find ways to stay with those experiences.” Her stories, therefore, are never entirely external; they’re interwoven with her own life and her refusal to accept dehumanisation.
And then came a striking moment: when talking about collectors, she said she would love it if people not only bought her work but also connected with the stories behind it. The images are hers, but the narratives are universal; visible all around us, waiting to be acknowledged. She sees herself as a medium for those stories, passing them on so they can’t be ignored.
Scratching layers to carve our stories
By the end of the live session, it was clear that Portia doesn’t just make art, she lives it. She reminds us that art is supposed to unsettle, to disturb, to make us uncomfortable enough to notice. And as she put it, if it doesn’t make her uncomfortable first, how could she ever create it?
The session was more than a conversation; it was a reminder that art has the power to scratch away at illusions and reveal what lies beneath. For everyone who tuned in, it was an eye-opening exchange. And for those who missed it, we’ll continue sharing more of Portia’s insights and works here at Artlune.
