According to IWD website:
International Women’s Day is a way to focus on the social,
economic, cultural and political achievements of women and marks
a call to action for accelerating gender parity.
“The campaign theme for International Women's
Day 2021 is 'Choose To Challenge'. A
challenged world is an alert world. And from challenge comes change. So
let's all #ChooseToChallenge.”
The
first IWD gathering took place in 1911 and since then there have been
innumerable occasions to mark the day and its significance. I believe it’s more
about humanity than anything else. If you closely observe the society as it
holds a mirror to its own actions, we shall see the disparity in all arenas of
existence not just gender alone. But gender inequality is perhaps the basis of
all inequality. The domination that one is exposed to from early childhood is
what taken across all sections of the society. That one of them can dominate
the other leaves an indelible mark. It needs a collective effort and collective
conscience to challenge a change.
“We do what we see way more than what we
are told,” reminds
Gloria Steinem and we need to see that positive change particularly for the
younger generation to embrace it.
There
has always been a systematic
social devaluation of female life literally affecting the balance of life in
this world and Emma Watson talks about it in her conversation with Gloria
Steinem quoting:
“More lives are lost
through violence against women through sex-elective abortion, female
infanticide, suicide, egregious maternal mortality and other linked sex causes
than were lost during all of the wars and civil strife of the twentieth
century.”
-Sex and World Peace
(2012 - Authors: Mary Caprioli, Bonnie Ballif-Spanvill, Chad F.
Emmett, Valerie M. Hudson)
Our
project is a simpler note though. As part of creating a meaningful narrative,
Piya Gajbe and I decided to join hands with other art enthusiasts and veteran artists
to create some personal chronicles in the name of art. The intention behind
this collaboration is all about having a shared purpose, appreciation, trust
and join forces to create stories of change and positivity; something hopeful.
Purple, green and white are the colors of
International Women's Day. Purple signifies justice and dignity. Green
symbolizes hope. White represents purity. Keeping this in mind, I had extended
the limited colour palette for our works – Purple,
Yellow ochre and Teal. However, artists are beings of freewill, constrain
is something that cannot be dealt with by all. While some could think in terms
of the colour, some indicated certain aspects of certain shades of the said
palette. Ultimately, it’s all about a combined purpose and celebration in the
name of art and that’s all that matters.
Being
in diverse professions, some of my friends here still hold on to their passion
to delve deep in splashes of colours. That somehow liberates us into a
different realm. It is this passion and interest that has brought us together.
We are our own Galaxies- A Collaboration |
Details - We are our own Galaxies |
Our theme – “We are our own Galaxies”
Babitha Rajiv – Fort Kochi
Untitled, 91.44x91.44cm, Acrylics on canvas |
Deepa Gopal - Dubai
Born in India and currently residing in Dubai, Deepa Gopal loves working with a variety of mediums. Most of her paintings are coupled with her own Haiku/micro poems as titles. She has done her Masters in English Language and Literature and is currently working as a freelance visual artist and a creative writer. She has displayed her works in several group shows in India and in the U.A.E. She has curated a couple of exhibitions, as she loves to bring many voices together. Her art blog, Hues n Shades, is one of the Top Indian Blogs.
Her works reflect the introspective emotional states or “mindscapes” as she likes to call them. The limitless mind in general and the inner workings of the feminine in particular captivates her the most. Most of her works are autobiographical. Myths, dreams, visions, people and their tales, the emotions and the unbridled feelings kindle her creative juices.
The current work highlights a mindscape of infinite possibilities where her dreams are guarded and she enjoys a safe space where her own universe wraps her up to heighten her realizations.
We
are our own Galaxies, 29.7x21cm , watercolour |
Dr. Hawa bi Khan - Sharjah
Hawa bi khan is a creative from the sun baked state of Goa, India. Her multicultural upbringing has affirmed the idea of perspectives, authenticity is what attracts and stories matter!
Along with exploring
cultures,places and people, she spends her time expanding her vision in
healthcare, AI, human rights and gender equality.
Creating and managing in her profession, dentistry, she has also invested herself in the field of her primeval love... art...dabbed in everything that intrigues, from printmaking to alcohol inks, to graphic design...anything that fascinates the creative in her to explore the limitless possibilities of a perpetually exploring mind.
Printmaking and pen and ink sketches are the medium through which she finds a way to let out and heal whatever the mind dictates!
Resplendence - 32.5x22cm - Linocut |
Masarratfatima Sulaimani - Sharjah
Masarratfatima Sulaimani is an experimental artist, specializing in creating the unique art of hand-cut Paper. She believes that human forms and emotions can be best depicted through this art form.
Masarratfatima explores
Paper cut art with various mediums along with the interplay of light and
shadows. This gives the art a different dimension. Inspired by nature, culture,
emotion, and architecture, these layered papers expresses a story of a
moment. Through her art, she strives to bring out the human journey of
understanding the self and the world.
She has successfully
showcased her works at various venues across UAE, such as Sikka Art
Fair’19, WAD etc. She is an Art Instructor at various Art
Centers. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Visual Arts from the prestigious
Maharaja Sayajirao University, India.
Within - 22.7x42 cm - handcut paper with watercolour |
Piya Gajbe - Nagpur
Piya Gajbe is an advocate, a writer and a painter by choice. Having written several short stories, blogs and articles for various online platforms and offline magazines, she has recently published her debut novel, ‘When Fate Kicks’. Poetry is soul therapy for her and she has a published collection of poems, “Dews N Petals” to her credit.
She is currently working as the Chief Editor of Sharing
Stories Magazine and Content Manager for www.sharingstories.com. A doting mother to a son and an avid reader, apart from
writing she loves to engage herself in music, arts and painting.
When she is not expressing herself in words, she uses colours
and paints to describe her feelings and thoughts. A self-taught artist, she
finds solace in painting and sketching. She loves to bring out the
extraordinary tales of ordinary people around her through her writings and
artwork.
We are our own Galaxies, 54x36cm, watercolour |
Rhiti Chatterjee Bose - Bhubaneswar
Rhiti Chatterjee Bose is an Artist, Writer and Counsellor based in Bhubaneswar, Odisha. She is the founder of ArtIsana, an art company focused on teaching and learning of various art forms. Her work mainly focuses on Indian Folk & Tribal art, Zentangle Art, Mandalas, Acrylic paintings and Art Therapy. She has recently co-launched a program called 'RasaRanga- The Indic Utsav' to empower the rural and folk artisans. She is the co-founder of a free community library 'Kitaabshaala' in Bhubaneswar for the underprivileged youth. She was the founder of the ezine ‘Incredible Women of India’ that documents incredible stories of real life women. She also has multiple print and online publications.
She has a Master’s degree in English Literature from The
University of Madras. She has a Teacher's degree from Manchester Metropolitan
University, UK, and is a Post Grad Diploma holder in Psychotherapy and
Counselling from The School of Natural health and Sciences, London, UK.
The cosmos and the Consciousness - 38.5x27cm - Pen and acrylic |
Runa Biswas - Bangalore
Runa Biswas is an artist currently based in Bangalore. She was born and brought up in Kolkata where she completed Masters in Economics and also a five-year Diploma in Fine Art. For the last 15 years or so Runa has consciously worked towards developing a unique visual language that she can call her own and derive artistic satisfaction from.
Over the years, she has experimented with mediums, textures,
tools and concepts that has helped her to achieve a technique that is a mix of
watercolour wash employing layer on layer glazing, pouring, batik and
brushwork. This technique has given her the freedom to use the rigidity of bold
lines along with the fluidity of watercolor.
Her subjects are mostly figurative, inspired by dreams,
folklores, stories and moments, and deep symbolism drawn from life, of other
people she knows or came across, and even her own life. Of missed moments, or
the ones that has happened already, yet are so beautiful that those can be re-lived
once again.
She wants her paintings to touch hearts, yet speak to the minds
of people, making them think, evoking curiosity, discovering the layers and
making them happy every time they look at the works.
In Search of Paradise - 25.4x25.4 cm - mixed media on archival paper |
Sowmya Muralidhar - Bangalore
As the saying goes, Passion has a calling, Sowmya Muralidhar is an engineer by profession but her interest has always been her childhood passion, painting.
Her journey from a novice learner to where she is today is through several inspiring workshops and the learnings under the guidance of senior artists. She loves working with varied mediums like oil, acrylic, pastels & charcoal. She is quite versatile in capturing the brilliance of nature along with conceptual, contemporary, and figurative arts.
She dedicates this art journey to the very first artist in her life - Her Mother
She has had great opportunities to share her journey in the form of online exhibitions and art shows in and outside Bangalore where her artworks have found a place and purpose. She also enjoys teaching art to all age groups. She also enjoys penning down the story behind each of her artworks. To sum up, her eyes are always looking for a subject that talks to her, enthusing her palette of colours to create works which leave an impact.
Seek within - 24x24 cm - Acrylic on canvas |
Vani N M - Palakkad
Born in Malappuram district, Kerala in 1984, Vani completed her BFA in Painting from the Govt. College of Fine Arts in Thiruvananthapuram in 2006 and then went onto receive her MFA in the same discipline from S. N. School of Arts, Central University of Hyderabad, in 2010. She has been part of many exhibitions, workshops, art camps etc. including the works on Travancore Titanium Art Wall Thiruvananthapuram 2021, ‘Nirakeralam’ Online Art camp by Kerala Lalitkala Academy in 2020, ‘Niracharthu’ a national painting camp at Wadakkanchery-Kerala in 2019, ‘Biophilia’ group exhibition curated by Manesh Dev Sharma in 2017 and online slide presentation of her works in Ni-Talks in 2020. She lives and works in Palakkad, Kerala.
Speaking about her paintings, her early works portrayed the
duality of ‘Black’ and ‘White’ and the existential crisis. She attempted to
visualize the fight within her to decide the parameters of right and wrong.
When she started to experience - the flow beyond the dualities - ‘Advaita’, she
tried to represent this beauty through her paintings. As we know, we human
beings are not so virtuous to others’ habitat and that realization led her to
watch and depict the lives of nature too.
The Flow- Shakti, 40x50cm, Oil on canvas |
Yamini Mohan - Kannur
Yamini Mohan was born into a family of acclaimed artists based in Kannur - the land of looms and lores by the Arabian Sea in the northern part of Kerala. She soon emerged from the shadows of her illustrious family, shaping her own distinctive style. After completing her Graduation in Painting from the University of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram in 2008, she soon swapped the palm-lined beaches of her homeland for the bustling megapolis of Dubai, where she is now based.
With a self-confessed obsession for the dark and bold stokes
of Charcoal, she is currently delving deeper into her favourite medium,
ceaselessly exploring, evolving and expressing herself.
Yamini has been part of several
national and international group exhibitions and Art Camps. She has
three Solo Shows to her credit. She has been part of “Promising Artist” by
Akaas Visual Arts, Dubai and “Women in art” show conducted by Gallery
Arabesque & Centre Park towers in Dubai, “Images in-side out” conducted in
Delhi Triveni Art Gallery is her notable Duo exhibition. She is a regular
at Kerala Lalitha Kala Academy’s State exhibitions and
Cochin Art fair. For her work named
“Iconography”, she was conferred with the Academi’s State Award
(special mention) in 2007.
Wind-91.4x76.2 cm, Acrylic and charcoal on
canvas |
Hope
you liked this exclusive feature post. Do share your thoughts and comments in
the comment section. You can also send your feedback to mail.huesnshades@gmail.com.
Wonderful concept, well executed! Bravo!
ReplyDeleteदीपा,बहुत ही सुंदर तरीके से अलग अलग सशक्त महिलाओं का परिचय करवाया आपने। महिला दिवस की आपको भी शुभकामनाएं।
ReplyDeleteWow loved them all. Such a great ode on a perfect day celebrating womanhood. Some of the paintings have such deep meaning embedded within that they almost spur an inspiration within you kind of making you acknowledge that the empowerment lies within us.
ReplyDeleteLoved it Deepa. Such exquisite work. My appreciation for all artists. What an inspiring way to celebrate IWD.
ReplyDelete-Sonia
Beautiful work on an excellint theme everyone!
ReplyDeleteVery nice. I really like 'seek within'.
ReplyDeletewow- thank you for sharing all this amazing art by these beautiful, talented ladies, and for sharing about them!
ReplyDeleteLove your painting and the work of all the other ladies, that you for sharing.
ReplyDeleteThis is an amazing post. Beauty everywhere and a wonderful tribute to the day.
ReplyDelete