Nilima Sheikh moved from Western-style oil paintings to miniature paintings, taking inspiration from the Rajput and Mughal court painters. She works in series and uses traditional materials including tempera and wasli paper. Narrative is at the heart of all her work from her miniature paintings to her murals and large-scale canvases. Over her artistic career, Nilima has woven into her work her concerns with femininity, tradition, violence, poetry and national politics and continues to create bodies of work that evoke mystical imaginary landscapes.