Katakriti Art Gallery Presents Talk and Presentation with open house to meet and interact with Kalakriti Residency Artists Girish Chandra Behera, Kumari Ranjeeta, and Naresh Kumar on Thursday.
Girish Chandra Behera, born in 1988 in Odisha, completed his BFA (Painting) from Government College of Art & Crafts, Khallikote in 2008 & MFA (Painting) from S N School of Fine Arts & Communication, University of Hyderabad in 2014. Currently, Girish is pursuing his M.Phil. from Utkal University of Culture, Bhubaneswar, Odisha. In 2016, he won the 57th National Exhibition of Art, Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi. His works have been featured in several exhibitions across the country.
"According to the Hyderabad history this bazaar was set up by the ruler Mohammad Quli Qutab shah at the time of his daughter's wedding, and Bazaar was mainly for the guests who were coming to attend the wedding. The bazaar was named after her daughter Laad. The Laad Bazaar still presents a glimpse of the bygone eras. It is said that the market has been there since the Qutub Shahis and the Nizams era, and thus presents a living heritage of the city. There are many legends associated with this historical market. According to a legend, the origin of Laad Bazaar goes back to Ladli Begum who was the wife of the sixth Nizam of Hyderabad, Mir Mehboob Ali Khan."
Girish talks about his works, "I was fascinated by this charm, and it became my first priority to represent it in my paintings, for me Bazaar is the place for wondering and discovering, I walked around the place without wanting to reach destination. When I visited the old city of Hyderabad, I experienced the richness of Islamic culture through architectures, food, attar (perfume) and their costumes. Especially 'Burka'. I have used this element as a base/background in my painting to give harmony to my composition, in this process I have developed interest to know more about Islamic culture and practice."
Kumari Ranjeeta, born in Mokama, Bihar in 1983, completed her Bachelors in Fine Arts in painting from College of Arts and Crafts, Patna in 2008. She then received the Junior Fellowship by HRD, Government of India, followed by Masters Degree in Fine Arts at Agra University. She did an Art Appreciation Short term course at The National Museum, New Delhi. Recently in 2016, she again received a Masters in Fine Art (Research Program), School of Humanities and Social Science, Shiv Nadar University. Her final year graduate project was Hashiya (Margin) shown at Kiran Nadar Museum, Noida.
Ranjeeta is a conceptual artist whose practice is anchored in visual experiments. Her question surrounds the aesthetics of conceptualism and labor. How did language and race or caste in India decide on the cultural value associated with an object.
Ranjeeta says, "My project deals with the issues of marginalized workers, mostly focusing on the lost rich crafts, textile and trade history. I live in the city of sea, Mumbai. This city has inspired me to know more about the trade history. As we know Bombay is the main center for businesses in India. Wide spread of British cloth industry in 1830s had snatched jobs from thousands of local craftsmen, spinners and weavers. Till today artisans are not able to recover from this bad situation.
I came to Hyderabad for Kalakriti Residency Program, and as any visitor/tourist of Hyderabad I also visited the old city market near Charminar which is also known as global Icon of Hyderabad. The Charminar was constructed on the intersection of the historical trade route that connects the markets of Golconda with the port city of Masulipatnam."
She further says, "The trade aspect of Charminar attracted me to know more about the socio cultural practices of Hyderabad people. In this process, I have met a vessel seller in the market and I bought one beautiful Kadhai from her, this small act of me buying thing from the lady made me think more about the dynamics which is produced by the exchange in our economy, society and culture. The reason behind this dynamics is vividity. Therefore, I have started to explore my art experiments with many different medium and material like rag cloth, sequence, stone, found objects and watercolours."
Naresh Kumar, born in Patna in 1988, completed his Bachelors in Fine Arts (Painting) from College of Arts & Crafts, Patna university, and Masters in Visual Arts (Painting) from Lalit Kala Sansthan, Dr. B R University, Agra. He did an Art Appreciation Short term course at The National Museum, New Delhi in 2011. He has received the Young Artist Scholarship by HRD Ministry of Culture, Government of India. In 2015, Naresh won the prestigious French Embassy and the Krishnakriti Foundation Fellowship for a residency at Beaux-arts de Paris, I'ecol National sup£rieure, Paris.
His solo debut in 2015 The Moon with a Crooked Smile' was hosted by Schmall Gallery, curated by Doran Scmaal and Zasha Colah, Sumesh sharma, Amsterdam, followed by 'Black Rice', at Foundation Lucien Paye, supported by Foundation Lucien Paye, Paris, France, curated by Sumesh Sharma in the same year. Besides these, his works have been featured in several places across India and abroad.
