KOCHI: They provoke the thoughts. The works of nine artists at the Durbar Hall Art Gallery focus on different facets of life. Sheetal C S from Bengaluru has captured her feelings during her stay in Cholamandal on her canvases. The vast sea before her and the sky above create a sort of ‘nothingness’ despite everything being there. Titled ‘Blue’ it’s all about the deep. The roller in the ocean moves on and the images of the claws and beak strike you. ‘Heal’ and ‘healer’, the images of hearts of various animals are about nature’s power to heal which she links to the feminine, a symbol of healing. “It’s very personal, something I felt in Cholamandal,” she says.
Dhanya M C from Kerala has experimented with mixed media on paper. She focuses on the tragedy of the people forced to leave home for strange lands due to raging wars in ‘The Saga of Diaspora’. In ‘Organic Sustenance’ she depicts miniature images of animals and a pregnant women in what looks like the pith of the felled trees, the ageing rings circling around.
Kerala-based Shinoj Choran’s frames in shades of brown relate a story of exploitation and show how the poor and weak have less breathing space in every walk of life from the past to this day - of how kings, ministers, police, saints and others take those in need for granted and care two hoots for their rights.
Nimmy Melvin, also from Kerala, pictures the mundane in extraordinary light. ‘Vivarium’, an acrylic piece on canvas is self-explanatory. Her Cup of life has images of animals painted on a porcelain cup. Just as Lokesh’s work ‘Pocket Series Changing Times’ shows animals and birds on a stringed musical instrument on one side and on another a tree covered with images of flora and fauna.
Lokesh, from Bengaluru also tries to depict the changing sensibilities of man over the years and the sense of fashion through his stylised figures of dogs, crows and tinted eye glasses. Aishwaryan K, also from Bengaluru, has put up a diptych ‘The grass in always green on the other side’. His Gray Emoti(C)ons are about communication in today’s fast pace of life. Day-to-day observations of Naveen A Kumar of Bengaluru have found their way into his works that are mostly memories revisited. Bengaluru-based Chaitra Putran weaves elements of disharmony that exist on the earth that moves harmoniously in her ‘Conflict’ series. The disharmony is felt in Chennaiite Sunilkumar Sree’s work too but against a pitch black background.
The artists have essayed various mediums including cow dung paper, acid-free paper, archival ink on moulin du Roy and mud for better effects.
The exhibition will run through March 20.