HYDERABAD: As part of the online exhibition ‘Women In Contemporary Indian Art’, organised by Kalakriti Art Gallery 20 works by several women artists in the collection are being showcased. The opuses range from volcanic red canvases to soothing blues of water and sky — the elements that make the feminine a melange of wonder and mystery.
In this regard, Baroda-based artist Soghra Khurasani’s paintings of scarlet volcanoes express anger against the injustice that women face. But does she herself face it in the art industry? Says the 37-year-old artist, “I live and work Baroda. I have never faced misogynistic behaviour in the art circles.” But her works are fierce documentations of the anger bubbling inside a woman, who faces oppression on several levels not just in India, but abroad as well. It’s quite justified that she blends a woman’s anger with the burning lava which erupts with great force symbolising destruction of the evil.
At the same time, Paris-based artist Sujata Bajaj, who’s been to Hyderabad several times, says, “On a higher level, things are easier for men. We’ve to work a bit harder and a little more to reach to be at par with the other sex. I express art in my language as an artist not based on discrimination. I try my best to be an artist.” Bright colours and sharp lines define the works of this contemporary artist. She adds talking about her work, “I don’t try to be like a man. I believe that women have a lot of qualities of their own. As a woman, I try to nurture and celebrate them. I don’t need to force anything on myself or on my work which is not me.”
On the other hand artist Seema Kohli’s work ‘Altered Reality’ in gold and silver leaf and done in acrylic represents mythological motifs which is her signature style.Once speaking to us for an interview, she’d said, “I offer the complete submission of my being to the blank canvas. I am enticed by the Devi who is formless and is the truth herself. For me what works is ‘Sarva Khalbatam Brahman - the dance of total consciousness. It’s a celebration of life. The festival of femininity. It’s an extension of love, existence and maya which is universal and we can’t stop the same even if we want to.” The exhibition is on till October.
— Saima Afreen
saima@newindianexpress .com
@Sfreen