This paper examines the Hindu goddess Kali as a symbol of women's empowerment in visual art from the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Traditionally associated with destruction, time, and transformation, Kali has been reinterpreted by contemporary women artists as a powerful metaphor for female autonomy, resistance, and political agency. Rather than representing fear or chaos, Kali is increasingly portrayed as an embodiment of righteous anger, creative destruction, and the rejection of patriarchal control.
The study focuses on feminist and postcolonial visual practices featuring Kali as a visual language of protest against gender-based violence, colonial legacies, and social inequality. Artists use Kali's iconography-her nakedness, weapons, and defiant posture - to challenge dominant representations of femininity and to reclaim the female body as a site of power rather than shame. In these works, Kali becomes both a spiritual and political figure, transforming personal trauma into collective resistance.
By analyzing selected artworks, installations, and performances, this paper demonstrates how Kali has evolved into a global feminist icon. In contemporary visual culture, she symbolizes women's right to express anger, assert bodily autonomy, and dismantle oppressive structures. Ultimately, Kali's re-emergence in modern art reveals how religious imagery can be reactivated to articulate feminist critique and empower marginalized voices.