HYDERABAD: Artist Maredu Ramu is a man of few words, but many colours. Born into a family of farmers, young Ramu walked into the city with his eyes full of dreams, back in 2001. Today, the Hyderabad he lives in has metamorphosed into a city that barely looks and behaves like what it did two decades ago.
This developing nature of the city in its reality is what the artist captured in his recently concluded installation, ‘Public Spaces’, at the State Art Gallery.
Asked why he chose such a simple title for his work, he says: “Because that is literally what my work depicts. If you pause and look around on a normal busy day, you’d notice labourers hustling, a big hoarding, construction going on, commuters on their way to work, the Metro ferrying people and so many other things. I wanted to showcase just this through my work and so the name.”
Ramu’s latest work is different from his earlier ones — he does not try to be creative or abstract. “I try to depict reality. I may add a thing or two to represent the time they are from. For instance, I could add a film poster from that time, a slogan from a protest that broke out then or an image of a political figure. This way, when people look at my work years later, they would get an overall picture,” he says. The star attraction of this series is the painting of a woman migrant labourer walking on deserted roads.