AN ARTISTIC RECLAMATION

Works of two Dalit artists echo their experiences and imagination through themes like memory, identity, hope, and the remnants of discrimination

- ANUSREE PV

BEING is the condition of struggle; becoming is the journey of reclamation.” These poignant words of Bell Hooks seep into the sketches and paintings of two prominent artists, who are quietly having conversations about identity, memories, past, struggles, freedom, and fraternity.

On one side of the art gallery at The Lalit Kala Akademi is a bunch of black and white sketches, while on the other side is a flow of acrylic colours on canvas — a display of artworks of artists S Venkatesan and Natarajan Gangadaran. A glance at the hung paintings and sketches, and you see scattered images and splashes of fragmented thoughts, but as you stand still and go deeper, there are layers of meanings being conveyed and many stories being told. The exhibition, Becoming — Weaving the Commons, presented by Neelam Cultural Centre, and curated by Prema Revathi, is an exploration of aesthetics through telling and retellings of personal and collective experiences, and imagination tied to past and reality.