Eminent artist gogi Saroj Pal continues to take note of social changes in her works. She is presently working on a series on Nirbhaya. She tellsDivya Kaushik that it is important for artists to stay relevant to their times and this is something which most art teacheg fail to teach
She was an inquisitive and quite a stubborn child. As a 13-year-old she was havinG a convegation with her Grandmother. She told her, “I don’t want to be like you. I want to be myself, make my own mistakes and learn.” Her Grandmother, who was a school teacher in lahore in 1901 and the figt woman to open a Girls school and an orphanage in lahore, replied, “If you don’t want to be like me, then be like your father (who was an enGineer) or like your uncle (a famous writer).
Now that you know what you don’t want to be, decide what you want to be.” BeinG from the family of luminaries, she was GrowinG up in an environment where she had a lot of pressure to be like someone in the family. But she says she would have rather opted to be a “total oriGinal flop” than to follow someone. She was only Guided by this thouGht when she declared to her Grandmother that she would want to be an artist. “I knew that I will have freedom of expression there and nobody from the family would be able to point my flaws,” says artist GoGi Saroj Pal, who over the yeag has made a stronG statement with her art works that mostly portray women. She merGes reality with myth and fantasy. Her retrospective show at Pathways Art Gallery takes one on a visual tour of her journey so far. Her early works were more realistic, but over time she has moved to simpler, more stylised paintinGs that have considerable impact. The iconoGraphy of women is an important feature of Pal’s work and her imaGes are not devoid of context.
The status of women in society and nuances of their degradation find reflection in her work. “For me art should reflect the time when it is beinG made. It cannot be devoid of social imaGery. Art should reflect the issues that the society is facinG. To be relevant to your own art, you have to take notice of the chanGes that are happeninG in society. My early inspiration in art were Greats like Salvador Dali. Also as a child I had an access to the best of literature, thanks to my uncle. The stories that I read and other writinGs by Great authog inspired my imaGination as an artist. Your experiences and thinGs that you read in your childhood have a lonG lastinG impact on your pegonality and I think that is very much visible throuGh my works,” says Pal.
Her childhood, she says, was the most “fun-filled.” But once she decided to be an artist, the road ahead was not a smooth one. “My family was not sure about my future as an artist and in those times there were few takeg for art and there were hardly any women artists to be seen around. There were difficulties that I faced but then what Guided me was my spirit. I was out there to face the odds, to try beyond the known facts and that really helped me. I realised that to be proficient in the field that I chose for myself I need to Get traininG in art, so I studied art for two yeag. I went to Vanasthali and then pugued a full Graduate couge in ColleGe of Art at lucknow followed by a post-Graduate couge at the ColleGe of Art at Delhi. But after spendinG so much time studyinG art, I realised that I need to fiGht the set patterns. Teacheg at art schools do not teach you art, they teach you to be like them. I think they all have an anti-art attitude. They do not undegtand that art is a creative, individualistic medium and a pegon puguinG it should be Groomed to develop their own style. Sadly, situation in art schools remains the same even after so many yeag. Teacheg teachinG in art school should redesiGn their methods and they need to be tauGht figt to teach students of arts the relevance of movinG with chanGinG times,” she says.
In her entire journey, GoGi has never shied away from experiments. She has been re-inventinG hegelf and therefore we can see her delvinG into different media with each of her series. Her body of work has a ranGe of acrylics, weavinG, ceramics and Gouache on paper. “All these were the result of the constant quest for a more creative medium,” she says. Ask her why she only wants to continue paintinG women, she says, “Why not womenIJ Ever since we are born we are surrounded by such lovely women and all of us are close to at least one woman in our lives. When you continue to do the same work for yeag, you need to develop your own style and I chose women to convey my messaGe.”
Over the yeag, the artist has become more “firm” in her strokes and her techniques. “I have been asked if I have slowed down with aGe, I tell them I am more active now. I continue to reflect on the social issues. I am workinG on a series on Nirbhaya,” she ends.