Artist Nikheel Aphale takes Devanagari, its letters and texts and uses them as raw materials for contemporary art. Sometimes the letters remain recognisable; at other times, he distorts and abstracts them until they take forms. Devanagari is the script of his mother tongue, Marathi, and has been around him since childhood. “It has become part of my art practice, a way for me to think, feel and respond to the world while carrying memories and lived experiences,” he says.
His work with the script has also helped him connect with his roots and develop a visual language. “I see letterforms as images, some feel delicate or strong, aggressive or soft, complex or simple. I keep experimenting with these qualities to bring out their hidden beauty, allowing the letters to move from a literal form toward something more abstract,” he adds.
History is another important source of material. Manuscripts, inscriptions and scriptures give him references for creating new letterforms and deciding on surfaces and visual treatment. He also works with texts from literature, including mantras, poems and verses, particularly when dealing with ideas of spirituality and humanity. “I believe scripts carry more than language. They hold memory, philosophy, identity and cultural experience. By placing them in contemporary contexts, I hope to make them accessible and relevant to audiences, even when they may not understand the language,” shares the Bengaluru-based artist, whose work is part of the permanent display at India’s new Parliament building.
The possibilities do not end with framed artworks. Aphale sees Indian scripts working across graphic design, book covers, textiles, fashion, sculpture, beading and public spaces. A lot of Indian languages and scripts offer artists a large body of visual materials, while he says using one’s own language can give text-based work a stronger personal connection.
His tools are as experimental as his treatment of letters. Reed pens and brushes are used alongside toothbrushes, coconut husks and discarded bank cards. The choice depends on the feeling he wants to convey across, as he explains, “If I want to express anger, I may choose something rough, like a toothbrush or coconut husks. A traditional nib may not always carry that sense of agitation, while an unconventional tool can create marks that feel more forceful.”
Letterform structure and the balance between black and white space require disciplined practice. Once these principles become part of an artist’s muscle memory, they can work more freely with abstraction. Such discipline also gives handmade work its value at a time when digital fonts & AI-generated images are becoming very common. Aphale believes the human hand leaves something behind that technology cannot completely reproduce. In calligraphy, every stroke can record the rhythm of breathing, the pressure of the hand and the artist’s state of mind at that particular moment.
He does not see technology as something to reject, but believes it needs to be used thoughtfully without losing touch with human emotion. Handwriting and other hand-led practices, he adds, can also have a grounding effect. People curious about script-based art can start by properly learning a script, preferably their mother script, Aphale suggests.