KOCHI: Mural Mahabharatham’ is the initiative of Bhagavad Murals and features 113 murals in all - 112 of them painted by women artists and the 113th, a single seven-foot ‘Viswaroopam’ painted in the mural style by Prince Thonnakkal, the guru of Bhagavad Murals. The works based on the grand tale of the Pandavas and Kauravas are going on a six-day display at the Bhagyamala Auditorium at the Chandrasekharan Nair Stadium. The formal inauguration is set for January 25 and the exhibition will be open to the public from January 26.
‘’This is a mammoth project that took us three years to complete, from 2014 to 2017 December. Each of the woman artists has a minimum three paintings to her credit,’’ Padma Ramachandran, one among the 35 artists, said. The works depict some of the finest scenes of the Mahabharatha - from the composition of the epic poem to the ascension of the Pandavas to heaven.
Thirty-nine of the works are based on the Bhagavat Gita. The 35 women who painted them are aged between 35 and 75 and live in Chennai, Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam and New Delhi. All of them are students of Prince who is a disciple of mural artist Mammiyoor Krishnankutty Nair, the first principal of the Guruvayur Devaswom’s mural painting institute.
Think mural and you tend to think wall and natural pigments. The 113 works are basically acrylic on canvas, but done in accordance with the mural traditions. ‘Mural Mahabharatham’ is aimed at popularising mural paintings and to introduce their possibilities to the younger generation, the organisers said. The 113-work ‘Mural Mahabharatham’ is also being immortalised in an eponymous book.
Aswathi Thirunal Gouri Lakshmi Bayi will inaugurate the exhibition on January 25. Former bureaucrat J Lalithambika will release the book. Similar exhibitions are planned in Kollam, Ernakulam and Chennai.
The exhibition will be open to the public from January 26 to January 31 from 10 am to 7 pm.
Diaspora of art
The 35 women who painted them are aged between 35 and 75 and live in Chennai, Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam and New Delhi. All of them are students of Prince who is a disciple of mural artist Mammiyoor Krishnankutty Nair, the first principal of the Guruvayur Devaswom’s mural painting institute