Revisiting the Urban brings together artworks by various artistes who hail from small towns and villages, and present their own interpretations of a metropolitan city. By Ayushi Sharma
An artist has always been understood as an observer of times, who is able to capture the delicacies of our monotonous routine and matters unseen — that remain hidden under the sawdust of the hustle-bustle of our mundane life.
The artworks from the exhibition Revisiting The Urban help us re-understand, re-familiarise and in a way revisit our urban habitation by bridging the seen and unseen aspects of our cities. Their works come across as excerpts from their diaries, brimming with intimate observations of the cities they have dwelled in. They share histories of migration to urban capitals where they question their own identities.
Birender Yadav, who hails from Dhanbad, says, “Coming from a small village to a metropolitan city, I was influenced by the growing urbanisation. I was taken aback by the irony of how modern structures and buildings are constructed for the comfort of masses, but the workers are forgotten. My own experiences allow me to lend an empathetic eye towards these unnoticed masses providing viewers a vantage point to the narratives of their stories of survival against all odds.”
He uses gunpowder dust extracted from matches in his works that acts as a metaphor for our fickle-natured society.
An artist from Odisha, Digbijayee Khatua, creates surreal cityscapes by blending elements from nature with mechanical and man-made structures. He creates some complicated crafts by overlapping layers of paper. He makes landscapes from watercolours bringing together different perspectives of a city. Coming from a small town, he says, “I am very fascinated with the city’s architectural aesthetics. I have examined the urban man’s life. Delhi is a beautiful city with a chaotic journey. I’ve always observed how everyone here is busy. The 3D work conveys a sense of familiar monotony. My practice is vastly influenced by my shift to Delhi.” He fuses stylistic elements from miniature paintings with the traditional Patta ones. He feels that machines play a vital role. “As we move further into this technological age, we have become more like machines as when we do something, we don’t harbour any emotions with it. We just keep on doing it without looking into its humanitarian aspects. My practice also elaborates my complex vision of simple images where characters from past come in.”
Other artists were Ravi Kumar Chunchula, whose works delve into histories and political concerns, and Sajeev Visweswaran, whose work maps his observations and memories from his village in Kerala.
(The show is on till October 18 at Anant Art Gallery.)