Lallitha Jawahirilal (b.1951) is a multi-award-winning South African artist. Her paintings, poetry and collage centre aspects of the natural and spiritual world, the nature of identity and the ongoing need for historical transformation. Jawahirilal left South Africa during the 1970s and stayed in London where she trained at the Camberwell School of Art and Design with a First-Class Honours (1984-1987) before graduating with a Masters Degree in Painting from the Royal College of Art (1987-1989). The South African exile and anti-apartheid communities in London helped foster Jawahirilal’s socially-engaged practice as an activist, complemented by the critical and commercial acclaim that she achieved early in her career. She returned to South Africa, along with other exiles, after the formal end of apartheid and took up teaching positions at the former University of Durban-Westville’s (UDW) Art Department (1994-2000). Jawahirilal’s works have been widely collected and exhibited both nationally and abroad for more than three decades. She has been recognised with numerous awards and residencies, including the Pollock Krasner Award (1992), the Elizabeth Foundation Award (1994), Artist in Residence at Monash University (2001), Delfina Studios (1989-1992), the Staffrider Merit Award (1989) and the Casa Manilva Residency (1992). Jawahirilal lives between her hometown of Ladysmith, KwaZulu-Natal and Puttaparthi, India. She still paints for her own pleasure and lives a spiritually observant life, following the teachings of Guru Sathya Sai Baba and Guru Shivanand Swami from Matri Sadan. South African writer, Dr. Candice Jansen speaks with Jawahirilal about her life and work.