Dr Meenakshi Dubey Pathak is known for her immense passion for the ancient rock art prevalent in India. India has one of the major concentrations of this amazing visible testimony to the rich cultural heritage. She was awarded her doctorate under the fellowship of the University Grants Commission of India for her study on Prehistoric Rock Paintings of the Pachmarhi hills.
Her explorations of rock art did not confine her only to pictographs of Pachmarhi and other parts of Central India. She has been working extensively on petroglyph sites in the Leh-Laddakh region in the state of Jammu & Kashmir in North India. She has set up a petroglyph park - the Trishul Petroglyph Park - with the help of the Indian Army at Karu about 30km from Leh on the Leh-Manali road.
In 2014 Meenakshi Dubey Pathak was bestowed the 'Knight of the Order of Art and Letters' by the French government for her research and documentation of ancient rock art in central India.
Also in 2014 she participated with the Committee of Peoples' Congress [CPC] and the Chinese Academy of Cultural Heritage in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region with the UNESCO World Heritage declaration campaign for the Zuojiang Huashan Rock Art Cultural Landscape. Meenakshi Dubey Pathak is a member of the Bradshaw Foundation Advisory Board.
Her 'rock art journey' in fact started when she was just 10 years old, when her father showed her some rock art sites in Adamgarh and the Pachmarhi hills because of her fascination of natural landscapes and nature. She went on to complete her Masters in painting and fine art, which led to her PhD thesis on the rock art.
One of the most powerful and effective tools of preservation of rock art is education, and Dr Meenakshi Dubey Pathak is no exception to this rule. Working with local tribes in order to understand their art and culture, she began to create contemporary art inspired by the rock art; on canvas, tree bark, stone, glass, and fabric. This has led to rock art workshops aimed at educating the young on this cultural legacy.
