Bahaar Dhawan Rohatgi literally became an owl to prepare herself for an exhibition dedicated to the bird, says Mansi Bhansali
The painting of an owl on the wall, which resembles Jon Snow’s character from the series Game of Thrones, greets the visitor at the entrance of lodhi hotel. “I have gone into a whole thought process. Just as Snow plays a night-watcher, the owl is the eternal vigilant with worldly wisdom,” said artiste Bahaar Dhawan Rohatgi.
Known as the animal of the night, with a hawk-like beak and a feathery body, everyone is intrigued by the owl’s nature. In order to solve the mystery of this suspicious creature, who watches the world when everyone sleeps, Bahaar conceptualised a nocturnal series.
Her exhibition was spread over different levels and the pieces were created over two months, some of which date back to 2015 and 2016.
Bahaar, who five years ago was an established lawyer, got obsessed with painting the cosmos and mythical subjects. Her commitment and dedication is highlighted in her work. She said, “I started making owls as I was very intrigued by this bird and established a cosmic and interstellar connection with it. As per mythological stories, the owl can see beyond naked eyes. In parts of Europe, people gifted owls to each other as it is considered a metaphor for knowledge and wisdom but in India it is associated with a lot of myths. In the northern parts of India, I came across stories of how people started capturing and killing owls since it is considered the vehicle of Goddess laxmi. They thought she could fly in and never leave. This motivated me to create an exhibition to depict these creatures in an enduring and humane manner.”
While creating the works, she became really obsessed with owls. “To the extent, I would send the picture of an owl to my friends saying, ‘This is my selfie’.”
She has used mixed media which include rubber, wood, glass, wooden scratch, metal, paper, embroidered lace and 3D work. She added, “My favourite work is a metallic recreation which took two months to complete.” She used colours of every hue ranging from neon to green and from deep red to monochrome, when it came to picturising the owl in the most beautiful way. Paper layering and mix media dominated the exhibition, making it more realistic and creative.
Bahaar explained the meaning behind some of her paintings. “This is me who always had owls on her mind throughout her life,” she said pointing out at a painting which had the silhouette of a girl accompanied by an owl. One of the paintings had a picture of an owl with different shades in four different frames. “It’s a kind of pop-art, inspired by the paintings of Andy Warhol, who painted the same picture in four to five different shades,” she said.
Bahaar is fascinated with interstellar or space related subjects. She said, “My standard favourite as an abstractionist is an interstellar series. For me, the cosmic connection is very important and The Nocturnal series also made me connect to it. My work is a culmination of my footprints and expressions. For me abstract art means absence of form. There is no straitjacket formula. I like fluidity in my work complementing some formation with no boundaries. People can see what they want to see.”
Bahaar pointed out that artists are at the bottom of the food chain, which needs to be corrected. “I loved art since my childhood. It came naturally to me. If I hadn’t worked for 15 hours a day during my lawyer days, I don’t think I would have been able to complete this exhibition. I want to further enhance the art laws in our country,” she said. She believes that the journey from a lawyer to an artist was seamless. Now she doesn’t feel that it is work but has rather become a part of her lifestyle.
She is soon going to present her work in Abu Dhabi and The Electric Room café. The artist spoke about the danger which clouds artistic expressions in our country. She said, “I have done some work, which I fear, if I exhibit might be vandalised. Sometime, I feel like creating a nude female form but this is a taboo in our country. I’ve done some work like this,” she said.
She feels that the situation can be improved by including art in everyone’s curriculum at pre-nursery stage. She added, “Encourage kids to appreciate our art viz-a-vis our culture. The more the awareness, the less will be the intolerance as it wouldn’t be a part of popular culture. This will also increase the support for the artists.”