New approach towards art illustrations

The 15th edition of Krishnakriti Festival of Art and Culture has begun and the two ongoing art exhibitions, ‘Mapping the City’ and ‘Mapping Frontiers’ at Alliance Francaise and Goethe-Zentrum are attracting art enthusiasts with its new concept.

The ongoing art exhibitions, ‘Mapping the City’ and ‘Mapping Frontiers’ being held as part of ‘Krishnakriti Festival of Art and Culture’
in the city explore art in different mediums

Mapping the City at Alliance Francaise brings together artworks of young and upcoming contemporary artists based in Hyderabad, whose works have been inspired by the rich cultural and historical heritage of the city.

From the Leonard Munn maps to latest Google maps of the region, both old and new, became the lens through which artist’s attempts to lay out their personal experiences of the city as a site of exploration and memory.

The artworks comprise of conventional drawings, paintings, collages and sculptures that are presented in varied experimental models. With new media as their primary medium of expression, the group of artists assure a refreshing approach to art practice in the city.

The exhibition, Mapping Frontiers is themed around varied interpretations and manifestations of the act of mapping, seeking to build relationship between the cosmological, physical, personal and imaginary worlds.

“We are constantly locating ourselves in space, within time and history, within a series of ever-expanding frontiers and boundaries marked by geographies, politics, cultures and social structures.

Current technology provides multiple tools to measure, indicate, and define specific physical and spatial maps, virtually. On the other hand, divinations of otherworldly dimensions and measures of cosmic and mythological geographies also exist in every culture with ancient roots,” said curator Lina Vincent Sunish.

Artist Dhiraj Pednekar said, “I have been a keen observer of how Goa and its landscape have inherently changed and still are changing. My focus is on a land mining; which has been constantly altering the landscape, creating a sense of movement which is not tangible but can only be experienced.

The drawing discerns the patch of dead pit left behind after digging land into the woods. I am also experimenting with mud as a medium to draw and finding its conceptual relation with the visual I have created. I am hoping to draw attention to the richness of Goa’s mud, ‘the peculiar red color owing to the iron oxide content’ and its exploitation throughout the years,”

“My art installation here is about how Hyderabad was treated in 300 years of Nizam’s rule. In 1948, it was merged in Indian government after a military action. In the installation, the knives portray Nizam’s kingship, different sands, landscapes and numerous wars which occurred during their time,” said artist Ravi Kumar, who is showcasing his work at Alliance Francaise.

Another artist Saisheela Kuresham shared, “My work ‘Snakes and Ladder’, explain about Nizam’s rule. In the installation, the crown symbolises the kings who ruled Hyderabad and represents their power and good things they have done. The snakes on the other hand characterise the difficulties Nizam kings faced during their regime and ladders indicates their achievements,”