In this issue

An ‘epiphany’ is often that decisive moment when a sudden realisation shifts our perspectives and subverts that delicate balance of the universe. As the entire world seems to be stuck in a vortex of powerful realisation, from where our seventh anniversary issue takes birth, ‘Epiphany’ seemed like the perfect theme.

In this issue, we look at what it means to not just have an epiphany but also how it converts into a viable, creative form of expression. We feature artists who give their epiphanies a dynamism that remains true to the fundamental order of things while threading into it the filaments of new thought, giving us the sense of that wonder, that space where the freedom of the new can exist without, and within, the boundaries of the old.

A Sky Full Of Thoughts

Artist James Turrell’s ‘Twilight Epiphany Skyspace’ brings together the many nuances of architecture, time, space, light and music in a profound experience that blurs boundaries and lets one roam free within their own minds

4 mins

We Are Looking into It

Swiss-based artists Jojakim Cortis and Adrian Sonderegger talk to us about the evolving meaning and purpose of photography and the many perspectives it lends to history

6 mins

Cracked Wide Open

Building one of the world’s largest domes was no mean task for anyone, let alone an amateur goldsmith, so how did Filippo Brunelleschi accomplish building not one, but two of them?

2 mins

In Search of a Witness

In conversation with legendary artist Arpana Caur on all things epiphanic, on all things pandemic, and on all things artistic

6 mins

Where the Shadows Speak

The founder of Sarmaya Arts Foundation takes us through the bylanes of his journey with Sindhe Chidambara Rao, the custodian of the ancient art form of shadow puppetry – Tholu Bommalata

4 mins

Bodies in Motion

What happens to the memory of a revelatory experience when it is re-watched through the frames of a screen? It somehow makes the edges sharper and the focal point clearer, as we discover through Chandralekha’s iconic Sharira

4 mins

Faces in the Water

As physical ‘masks’ become part of our life, we take a look at artists working with different aspects of ‘faces’ and the things that lurk beneath the surface.

8 mins

A Meeting at the Threshold

The immortal actor exemplified all that is admirable about his profession, from his creative choices to his work philosophy, and his passing was a low blow. This is our tribute to the prince among stars – Irrfan

5 mins

The Imperfect Layout To The Imperfect Mystery

Jane De Suza’s ‘The Spy Who Lost Her Head’ doesn’t feature a protagonist with superhuman skills of deduction, nor a plot that fits together like a jigsaw puzzle. Here, quirks and imperfections are pushed into the spotlight

5 mins

Free and Flawed

Greta Gerwig revitalises the literary classic, Little Women, highlighting the literary journey of its temperamental and wonderfully flawed female protagonist, Jo March

5 mins

The Good, the Bad, the Blurred

Franco-German photographer Alexandre Dupeyron took us through his abstracted realities that tread the line between documentary and fiction

4 mins

The Blueprint That Never Was

Sarah Winchester, wife of William Wirt Winchester who popularized the ‘repeating rifle’, built a sprawling mansion with no blueprint, in order to escape the ghosts of her past.

2 mins

The Uncertainty Project

The dreary sameness of architecture calls for a renewal, where form follows malfunction and error becomes an effective tool of design

4 mins

Into the Wood Work

The wooden craft of toy-making from Varanasi finds new life through ‘Lattu’ as Kaushiki Agarwal reimagines them with contemporary utilitarian designs

3 mins

Expressions in Red

With the play Lal Batti Express, the Krantikaris showed us quite powerfully that ‘what we perceive it to be from the outside – the stigmas we buy into – they are not their truths’

4 mins

Distorted Patterns, Multiple Meanings

Evocative visuals and distorted recollections are bound together in the dance of memory that teases us with sharp glimpses and blurry edges, while retaining the essence of emotions associated with them

3 mins

Engineered Isolation

Artist Baiju Parthan talks to us about why life happens where the analogue ends and the virtual begins and why it is important to keep the familiar and the unfamiliar within the thriving terrain of creative thought

7 mins

A Taste of Love

Assamese film-maker Bhaskar Hazarika talks to us about his film Aamis and why a love story turning to darkness is a world apart from a dark story turning to love

6 mins

Kamal Haasan - The Hero With A Thousand Faces

In an exclusive interview with the legend, the man himself – Dr. Kamal Haasan – we spoke about a variety of things, from cinema, to writing, to politics and to the fleeting nature of fame and the lasting nature of influence

10 mins

The Telling Chronicles

When oral history leads us down another road of stories, and visual narratives weave patterns through the runway of memory lit by words

8 mins

Remains of the Day

Canadian-American photographer Robert Polidori, known for images that record an imprint of both the past and the present within the confines of a single frame, spoke to us about the cyclical nature of time and the traces of human experiences hidden deep within

7 mins

Pock-marked Memories

Reliving a poignant visit to the Neues Museum in Berlin – a building that houses the treasures human history – brings the past alive while reflecting lost memories that continue to survive

3 mins

Handing It Down

Bishwadeep Moitra’s book ‘Brigitte Singh: The Printress of the Mughal Garden’ is a visual biography of Brigitte and her tryst with reviving Indian textile printing, lovingly and aesthetically published by Mapin. We present an edited excerpt from designer, writer and craft activist Laila Tyabji’s chapter, ‘Brigitte Singh, Master Craftswoman’

3 mins

The Unseeing Gaze

An exclusive interview with film-maker Leena Manimekalai, whose first work of fiction, ‘Maadathy – An Unfairy Tale’, remains true to the grammar of her stellar documentary work: it continues to skip across man-made lines, unmaking them in the process

8 mins

The Pebble In The Shoe

Part-installation and part-theatre production, ‘.h.g.’ takes the classical fairytale of Hänsel and Gretel and suspends it somewhere between the innocence of childhood and the harsh realities of adulthood

4 mins

The Life Of Pink

Tracing the tumultuous journey of the colour pink that was historically seen only as a subset of red and one that essentially began as a masculine colour

4 mins

Open-Ended Beginnings

Swiss-French photographer Hélène Binet, best known as the leading architectural photographer who still insists on shooting analogue, spoke to us about the ambiguous nature of photography that extends into her practice

7 mins

A New Slant

The celebrated series ‘Transparent’, about crisscrossing lines of identity, bows out with a rich symphony of emotions that hits elegiac notes but is ultimately pitched to please

4 mins

Making a Wish

‘Hello Farmaaish’, which premiered in Chennai as part of The Hindu Theatre Fest, unfolds as a play, but in its soul and spirit, is a fantastically crafted game of hope, aspirations, imagination, resilience, freedom and sisterhood

4 mins

Games of Gore

Looking back to a time when ‘fun’ and ‘games’ were intrinsically bound to ‘blood’ and ‘gore’. The Colosseum, the monument where some of the most gruelling tournaments were held

2 mins

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Arts Illustrated Magazine Description:

Arts Illustrated is an Indian based arts and design magazine dedicated to understanding the contemporary arts landscape and creating a more inclusive ecosystem for the arts in the country. It delves deeply into the visual arts and design narrative, offering a global and contemporary perspective to subjects, information and ideas that we believe, need to be heard by a larger audience. Our endeavour is to create an exciting read that reflects our ethos to inspire, evoke and enrich our readers. Our visually laid out chronicle of the creative landscape is published bi-monthly (once in two months) and is available across 12 key cities in India.