River of Wings - Art Exhibition at Kalakriti Art Gallery

The visual art diploma students of Indus International School of Hyderabad exhibits their very first art show of the series, 'River of wings: A collective imagination'. The works will be showcased in Kalakriti art gallery of Hyderabad. The show is curated by Ms. Piu Mahapatra.IBDP facilitator. It is a collection of collective imaginations, a collage of delicate colors and symphony of young voices of seven aspiring student-artists of Indus International School.

The participating student artists:

Visual artdiploma students of Grade 12
Shambhavi Reddy, Crystal Khour, Bikkumala Sai Rakshith

Visual art duiploma students of Grade 11
Saranya Settipalli, Nandita Srija, Ujwal Mantha, Jyotsna Velivela Reddy Event details:

The exhibition is inaugurated by Kala Vibhusan award winner artist, Surya Prakas, followed by a lamp lighting ceremony and press conference with the contemporary practicing artist, Naini Arora and art based writer, Ms. Palak Dubey and young entrepreneur, Supriya Lahoti Curatorial Rational By Bikkumala Sai Rakshith
India today, the cities are growing massive and developing tremendously with aid of technology but in the process are alsolosing its touch of green and blue.

These patches of nature are unfortunately found only in outskirts of my city. This is where I find peace and solace.

I can easily be transformed into a thinker by sitting on the scattered rocks around. I have always felt the deep connection with the nature. The rocks communicate to me and tell me stories told and untold.

They are to me the symbols of balance, control, stability. My theme revolves around them, ‘Rocky tales of despair and hope’.

I began exploring this unique element of landscape, the rocks of Hyderabad, by taking series of photographs. I also painted rocks flooded with light at different time of the day. I started enjoying the play of light and its relationship with rocks. At that time, I wasinfluenced by Rothko’s use of color.

I made the series of photographs of the rocks, and in the process, I came closer to the rocks. It is then that I discovered, hidden within its core, the entire universe. All together I saw is a collage of colors and textures. So I selected certain pieces to create “The land within the land”.

To also understand how the intervention is happening, a set of photographs showing the transition from a fine rock to a human property has been taken, naming it as “Intervention 1”.

My work gradually became narrative. I was influenced by the works of local artists, Sunil Lohar and TanmaySantra. These works made me understand how easily we can connect, use symbolize our mythological stories to voiceout the social issues existing.

The mythological story of Lord Krishna found place in my painting. Krishna, known for protecting by lifting the Govardhan Hills, was shown stooping down with the load of urbanization. Reading the newspaper opened my eyes.

I became aware about the new laws implemented on land acquisition. The law promoted consuming the green rather than protecting it. I realized the role that my society plays right now is more of invasion in the name of growth.

I found the same voice in PrasantaSahu’s works. But his topic mainly dealt with the pain and struggle of the underdeveloped groups.

I wanted to create layers within my work by choosingcontrasting mediums (photographs arranged and pasted on the city space painted in acrylic).

I think it as a wonderful tool to narrate the emotional stories through passive documentation and give the audience the chance to interpret. Other artworks created in the series like ‘no man’s land’, ‘Approaching’ to voice protest and so I made the composition strong, bold and direct like posters, as they directly communicate with viewer.

My last series are inspired from the Chinese scroll painting. The playfulness of the repeated images, the stretched space, was what I needed to portray my dream to the viewer.

I wanted the audience to travel through the space and slowly come to the realization at the end. Last is inspired from Gonzalez-Torres’s sculptural installations and the ‘Fish in a blender’ by Marco Evaristti.

I wanted to involve the audience directly. I wanted them to swing the canvas which symbolizes a piece of land. Rocks made of cow dung, the perfect medium, organic and natural, to align with my theme. Every move of the swing topples down the rocks balancing delicately on top of other.

I want to record the audiences’ reactions and see if art can make people aware through involvement
By Shambhavi Reddy
Growing up in a society where people have a stereotypical idea of beauty, has always made me wonder what “true”beauty is. In nature we see metamorphosis of a caterpillar to a butterfly which is also what a lot of us young girls desire and dream to go through. Does this physical change in identity also change our “true”identity? My first series of works called, ‘It’s in the darkness, that you will find your wings??!!’is where I used the butterfly as a metaphor. For the first part of my series, I’ve painted the scanned images of the cocoon (in a flow pattern) to show the process of transformation-its like peeping into something which is mystical and private. I wanted to show how similar it is, to the medical procedures that promise a magical change. Thus, I’ve painted the images on acrylic sheets as it is very similar to Xray films. In the second part of the series, I have painted some of the butterfly wings on acrylic sheets-to create an artificial look and a few others on paper, with earthly colors to symbolize being natural.

My second series were two relief works inspired by a news of the celebrated actress, Kangana Ranaut.

I was startled when I read that she rejected a proposal to become a brand ambassador of a popular fairness cream, with an intension to discourage the thought, that being dark and dusky is considered to be ‘less beautiful’in the Indian context. Many of us try to fit into the preconceived definition of “beauty” and do not accept who we really are.

Instead, we choose to opt for medical surgeries or harmful cosmetics. I wanted to show some of these cultural and societal influences on identity-in my work, ‘TARGET’.

Just like the name of the store, beauty is a target for commercial money making. Most of the mediums I chose are the materials which are non-degradable in nature, like plastic (garbage bag, target cover)-as it creates a very synthetic look.

A workshop by Naini Arora, had made me aware about the unconventional bio degradable medium-cow dung and how this medium is used by artists with an intension.

I chose this natural for my work, ‘Naturally Beautiful’. I wanted to place these two works next to each other to make the viewers aware of the contrasting mediums and their inlaid message.

My third set, ’Conversation with creases’is a photo series inspired from Aman Chotani’s works. I wanted to capture faces with creases. Although many believe that creases and wrinkles are antonym of beauty, I wanted to catch the beauty of ageing & experience in these faces.

The scale of these prints are large and are collaged together to allow the audience look at the deep creases and also find peace-like coming closer to an age old tree trunk with wrinkled barks.

My last set of works are on my grandmother. The photograph series made me realize that I find her the most beautiful.

I wasn’t influenced by the society or the cultural to come this conclusion, as it was solely my personal relationship and is also heavily biased.

Artist, Lorraine Loots makes miniature paintings with intricate detailing. So is my understanding of beauty when it comes to my own grandma-they are little details and it seems the unimportant traits that makes her most beautiful to me. In some of my works, I captured all those in small frames.

It is true that “the artist does not work in isolation(The story of art) I also feel that social relations among the family members have a huge impact on the artists’ works. My works are personal pages'of diary which are a reaction to the separation of my parents.

I am in the process of accepting and through my recent works I have tried to find the answer to the question “how does one accept the unavoidable or uncontrolled events of life and find peace?”l was highly inspired by a painting of Frida Kahlo entitled “my grandparents, my parents and me”. For the first two workslike Khalo I used the red ribbon symbolically as blood line.

I stitched the blood line to depict the unity andbroke the same to depictdisconnection.Artist Oscar Dominguez uses decalcomania a technique that is spontaneous, uncontrolled and outcome is unpredictable.

I have used this technique to symbolizeturmoil time of my life as the random mixture of color create disturbance.Fundamentals of design and creating patterns through graph has always fascinated me. The graph is measured calculated, creating repeated patterns require patience.

This used in most of the backgrounds to depict the desired calm state. In ‘Search of inner Lotus’ series, within a frame I tried to portray this very contrasting state of mind, calm and disturbed.As the calm is yet to achieve it is in background, sometimes faded. Inspired from symbolists used lotus, ‘Omkar, sandclock as metaphor.

I also learned to use medium to symbolize meaning like my last work cow dung symbolizes earth and time.

Hyderabad Vintage Photographs By Raja Deen Dayal From 17 April to 31 May, 2016 At The Gallery Cafe
World Heritage Day
Kalakriti Archives celebrates World Heritage Day. On this occasion, on display are limited edition exclusive prints of some magnificent monuments of Hyderabad.
These photographs were taken by Nizam's court photographer and an eminent photographer from late nineteenth century Raja Deen Dayal.

Hyderabad - a peek into the History
History of Hyderabad is inextricably linked to rise and fall of Qutb Shahi to Asaf Jahi (Nizams), who flourished in the Deccan region.

Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah, a ruler of the Qutub Shahi dynasty, was the founder of Hyderabad city.

In the year 1951 he laid foundation of a new city which he called Bhagyanagar after his beloved queen 'Bhagmati'. Bhagyanagar was consequently renamed Hyderabad.
The fall of Qutub Shahi dynasty saw the rise of Asaf Jahis dynasty.

In 1763, after a gap of nearly sixty seven years, Hyderabad regained its lost glory when Nizam Ali Khan, the second Asaf Jahi ruler moved the capital back from Aurangabad to Hyderabad.

The family of Nizams are one of the most illustrious that ever came to India. Asaf Jahi dynasty ruled the state of Hyderabad for seven generations (AD 1724 -1948) establishing largest Muslim princely state in India. Their contributions were foundational to State's social, cultural and economic environment.

Glory of Hyderabad - its monuments

Monuments in Hyderabad reflect diverse culture and historic background of the city. Relics of Qutb Shahi and Nizam rule remain visible in many glorious monuments like Charminar, Golconda, Mecca Masjid, Secunderabad Clock Tower and Chowmahalla Palace.