HYDERABAD: The beauty of art lies in the way it is perceived. And the perception is navigated based on the environment they grow in. Adhering to this, the first session in the series of “Intergenerational Conversation” moderated by Srinivas Aditya Mopidevi was held at Dhi Contemporary. Interestingly, this session features a teacher and a student belonging to different generations, Kavita Deuskar and Varunika Saraf, who shared experiences of their artistic practice and provided insights on the intricacies of building an artistic voice in and from Hyderabad.
Kavita Deuskar, a versatile artist who worked across various mediums, commenced the session by sharing her journey of being an artist based in Hyderabad. “I was born in Hyderabad in a family of artists, so I had art always around me. You have to choose your career that comes later; I decided to become an artist at an early age.
When I joined college, I felt I was in the right place. My teachers were very kind to all the students. They would uplift every student, such that each one has their style in the institution. The drawing was given a lot of importance, and we were not allowed to paint unless we were good at drawing. I feel that we have studied under the best teachers; we were very lucky. And that is my experience that I could learn a lot of techniques from them.”
She said that, though there were a lot of technicalities and practical sessions, theory was not enough in those days. “Theoretically, we were not very strong; we were not given enough theory, like the history part. We did not know much. English was not there. Hindi or any language was not there in the institution in those days. But practical work was excellent because we were taught the basic things. Even the technical aspects like Indian style composition, miniatures, etc.
Today, we have the facility of seeing so many works, travelling, and working with many artists in different mediums, and this is a good experience because, for us, it was very difficult to know what was happening around us, and Baroda was the only school that had it all. I have learned a lot while teaching, travelling to other countries.“
Responding to Srinivas Aditya’s question about her experience studying and working in Hyderabad, Delhi, and the UK, and what the back and forth looks like, Varunika Saraf, an artist and art historian, said, “What I feel is nothing much has been written about Hyderabad. I think the history of art education and art practice in Hyderabad is very different from Shantiniketan, and yes, they are connected. But it’s a different history. We have experienced modernity in a very different way than other parts, like even our political history is very different. So to assume the kind of changes that came in art colleges in Bombay, or Calcutta, in Delhi, it’s very different from our experience.”
She emphasized that Hyderabad goes unnoticed in the art exhibitions outside Hyderabad, “So one of the things that upsets me is that these people actively assume when they see you exhibiting in galleries in Bombay or Delhi, that you have been in Baroda. And then you say, no. Then they go, maybe Shantiniketan.
Hyderabad is not something that features in people’s minds. And it’s very unfortunate if you look at a lot of young contemporary artists, a lot of them have a connection with Hyderabad, especially JNTU and the central university here. And even when it comes to the writing of art history, it creates a problem. So, Hyderabad Central University (now University of Hyderabad) was one of the only colleges that had a proper department for teaching miniature paintings.”
Responding to a question by Padma Reddy, artist, and teacher, about changing dynamics and parameters, Kavita said, “I feel our generation belongs to a phase: more of the academic; subject-wise, more work was done. Lots of differences between the work then and now. The composition itself speaks very differently from what it was earlier. The youngsters have more openings now. They have a lot to see in the world. We were limited to the environment we lived in. But now everybody is open, going everywhere. The kind of technology has come in. They have been learning a lot from the computer system for so many things. Now the digital art is also coming so it’s easier for them to paint, I enjoy the work that they are doing.”