HYDERABAD: It is the new destination for students of the painting department of Jawaharlal Nehru Fine Arts University. Every afternoon, the students along with their teacher go to Nehru Art Gallery in their college premises to experience art and explore different views. ‘Viewpoint 2’ at the gallery displays 69 works by 40 women artists. The interesting feature is that there are national, international and city-based artists. Priti Samyukta, department head calls it a huge exposure for the art students. “The students have never heard these names. Students come here every day with their faculty and with little research do projects on each artist and the little interpretations they have created in their minds have to write and read out in the class. This practice allows them to understand the work culture of a studio practice and also learning out of the syllabus,” she points out. This every day routine also helped youngsters to understand how a canvas can be used differently.
The miniature painting by Asma Hussain is visually appealing. “She is a pure Pakistani but her great- grandparents were from Vijayawada, who migrated during the Partition. She was very keen on exhibiting here because we had a workshop with her,” states Priti and calls her works a poetic visual composition. “The painting showcases her surroundings. She has just taken a miniature painting of her Lahore school and put a kind of composition with the geographical thing.” Thejo Menon from Chennai brings in a new perspective. With a trumpet and a copper pot and add on objects, the work is symbolic.
Vishakha Hardikar makes a statement with her Thor and Ironman paintings have been created with her son and his cartoons as the inspiration. Sindhu Divakaran’s huge work in the centre depicts a realistic situation. It shows a little girl walking with a rocket in her hand. “This is about war and one feels like reading a story about Iraq or Syria in newspapers. One looks at the way children are adapting to these kinds of surroundings. This girl is walking with some rocket kind of thing that could even be a shrapnel,” explains Priti.
This is a 11th curation for Priti who laughs as she says co-ordinating for it even gave her borderline BP. “The students involved themselves right from the beginning, from reviving the works to putting them up. It is a journey and they will not forget these names, especially the final year students. They will know these international names and see how international artists look at their own preoccupations. It is the delicate sort of interpretation that a woman does. It could be an abstract drawing or a painting and it is from the point of view of a woman. Biologically, we are softer people; we give birth, become concerned about our own selves in society and negotiate with day to day life. We are also artists. Art and an individual is not separate. We are what we are and that is why viewpoint.”
