HYDERABAD: The mind is a migrant. It travels across different realms bringing together deep mysteries that try to get expressed through works of art. And artists are the conduits for the same.
The year 2020 for many practitioners of art has brought deep reflections leading to more expressions. Photographer-artist Akshita Gandhi’s online exhibition ‘Traveling Souls’ explores this through surreal mixed media artworks of digitally re-worked photographs.
Her works amalgam astral planes and cityscapes to present different dimensions. Says the 32-year-old practitioner of art, “The lockdown gave me much time to explore the concept of astral travel. I read many books. And when I was in the US, I explored the New York Public Library for the related literature. I made my notes and reflected on my findings.
At the same time, deep meditation also helped me a lot.” She blends photographs of the cityscape of Mumbai with paint and other media. Many of her photographs are taken from a moving car which gives the frames a liquidy quality almost in wave patterns similar to what brain produces when it’s in deep meditation stages. Her artworks are blended with her writer friend Anukrti Upadhyay’s writing. The culminated opuses are on display.
She adds, ““When I am creating and Anukrti is writing, our souls travel.” The movement reflected in her oeuvres also symbolises the journey that the soul takes across different realms and plains. “The power we have within us as souls is unprecedented. Our bodies are our homes, where we are confined. And it’s beautiful experiential confinement which leads to more journeys,” she says. Many people could connect with her works given they also reflect hope in these times when everything around has turned bleak.
“At this time of pandemic which has claimed so many lives, it is very important that people get a message of hope. The past six months generated the idea of introducing people to static structure and the chronicles that they always tell even in the moments of silence,” she says. The exhibition is curated by Anna Mikaela Ekstrand, a curator based in New York City and is presented by ATO Gallery and Cultbytes.
She has exhibited her works in London, New York, Dubai, Miami and Amsterdam and studied Fine Arts in Dubai. The pieces are quite spontaneous and offer a range of experimentation. The exhibition is on till October 15.