Artists find a way to express themselves in a way that one would least expect. And emerging artists do so through different media, beyond the confines of the canvas. Priyanka Aelay uses pen and ink to take our attention to flora and fauna, the interweaving complexities of life. The largely monochrome drawings have an occasional burst of colour. The gallop of the horses, playfulness of the elephant, the flight of birds all come alive in these drawings. In her compositions, she juxtaposes flora and fauna to represent the symbiotic quality of nature and shows remarkable spatial organisation, interspersing black, criss-cross lines with empty spaces.
She extends the idea of intermingling of flora and fauna on several glass surfaces, sketching each surface sparingly and placing them one on the other to arrive at a complete picture.
In contrast to these pen and ink works lies a mannequin at one corner of Kalakriti art gallery at Trident. The mannequin is the artist’s prop, through which she depicts the harassment and objectification of women.
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She speaks for women, from Draupadi to Nirbhaya, conveying the angst of feeling judged in everything she does. The ‘performance’ has her dressing up the naked mannequin as she narrates the dichotomy of a modern young woman, who is expected to be groomed and smartly attired, yet not in a provocative manner that supposedly invites rape. A woman is expected to be compassionate, patient, independent and confident, yet subdued so as to not intimidate a prospective groom. Towards the end of the performance, Priyanka places a ‘sale’ tag on the mannequin, hinting at the commoditisation of women.
The exhibition of pen and ink drawings is on at Kalakriti art gallery, Trident, till January 31. At the gallery, visitors can also view a recording of Priyanka’s performance titled ‘Hey. Hi, I am Will’.