QUEEN’S ROAD: The Karnataka Chitrakala Parishat will host ‘My City Speaks’, a show that combines the art of Sharmila Aravind and the photography of Perumal Venkatesan (PeeVee), from Wednesday to Sunday.
The exhibition explores the implications of city life on an individual’s physical, mental, psychological, experiential and intellectual capabilities. “As a person brought up in a quaint little town, I was always enamoured by cities, city life and people living in big cities. And then came a time when I shifted to a city. Observing keenly the people around me and the changes in my own self, from mundane daily routines to psychological and intellectual capacities, I felt there was a need to say something, albeit through imagery and poems. After a lot of thinking, I concluded that we become our cities,” Sharmila told City Express.
For PeeVee, the co-existence of contrasts is hard to miss. “I was brought up in a tiny hamlet. Having lived here (Bengaluru) for over a decade now, I have been party to the changes the city experienced. The stark contrasts that co-exist here are hard to miss. The elegant bungalows next to pigeon-hole apartments, overflowing lakebeds and houses that have no water, the local and the migrant. I hear several languages. My camera is in the constant quest for the unique relationships that we share with the city and I have tried to bring it into the light.”
In a city, on the one hand we find conveniences that ease our day-to-day life, or so we assume, while on the other, we go through the hardships that are inevitable. The exhibition focusses on paucity of time, juggling work, stress at home, commuting woes, the traffic, the noises, the voices, the aromas and the smells of city life.
Both artists try to show us through their work that the city gives us life but it also demands and takes a lot from us. It demands, sometimes pleads, for interaction, communication and love. “This dialogue between the city and its people is what we have tried to bring to light with this show, which will speak for both the city and the citizen,” PeeVee said.
Sharmila has created surrealistic images of visuals exploring the multifarious effects of the city on the individual and vice-versa. PeeVee’s photographs show in great detail the everyday things we fail to see.