Sketches Of Hope serves to be a campaign that aims to inspire change, inciting emotions and aspirations. The exhibition was manifested in an attempt to raise cognisance against the problem of women abuse that runs prevalent within India today. Even with our world moving towards a progressive future, India is stuck between the transition of gender equality, amongst others, due to some obstinate aspects of society. In many cities across the diverse nation, it is unsafe for women to venture out at night because they are seen as ‘weak’ or ‘inferior’; for women bear the unjust marks that their gender has presumably imposed on them. But it is time to change, to move society towards a more idyllic future. That is why I created the exhibition - I wanted to play my part in countering deeply entrenched values that lie hidden underneath a thin facade of understanding and peace.
This painting is perhaps my most poignant work out of all the pieces that I have conceived. In fact this piece first started out as an exploration into the style of hyper realism as I tried to reproduce tiny details; getting the right line, curve and toning to certain features of the face. But as I tried to mimic the style of Linnea Strid I felt something move inside me. This movement triggered me to make a painting which would allow viewers to ruminate about its message rather than coming up with a duplication that serves as a empty sketch. This is how, I took a stand against the bad elements of society in the smallest of ways and the seeds to my exhibition were sown. The commencement of other artworks to epitomise the idea of women abuse was initiated. This painting served as a release of my vexation and disbelief at the atrocious misdemeanours committed against women. The grey and black paint mix on the canvas to render a girl crying silently in despair against her maltreatment, and the reds portray the woman’s soft imperfections that make her human. The bright pigments move smoothly through the work with splotches of colour here and there with the intention of making the painting breathe and come alive with realism. The water that exudes drips down her face mirrors the tears that she has shed in the light of abuse. This water is symbolic of purification as it rids the woman’s body of the dirt that her gender had presumably given to her. Needless to say, the piece’s main sentiment was to illustrate the pain and was a crucial starting point towards raising awareness of such a critical dilemma.
This piece is indispensable to me as it was my first collage that I had made with some form of intention. I wanted to draw attention to the pressing problem of women abuse that is still prevalent in our modern day society. This sentience that I hope to instil in the viewers serves as a small stand employed by me. The work’s main component is a representational face of a women fabricated by a patchwork of blue, black and purple fabric. These fragile sheets of textile fold on top of one another to create a vague figure of a woman’s face. The colours of the materials have been chosen with care and consequently symbolise the bruises that stem from the abuse inflicted upon the woman. The fabric is manipulated into a pattern of lines that carve into the face of the contused woman through the use of a felting needle. These lines and curves mirror the marks of abuse which carve themselves onto the face of the exploited. The ‘patterns’ provide aesthetic value as they add interest and also a unique depiction of stories. Each line renders a varied tale as to how they came to be. For example- the black line that is present under the woman’s eye was conjured up when her boyfriend assaulted her, shoving her into the side of their coffee table. The slant of her nose is due to a malicious attack she endured when she refused a man’s hand in marriage. These stories of maltreatment go on and on as each scar become a part of the woman and remind her of the pain that she had overcome in her fight for equality. These stories and thoughts of characterisation that go into this work, or every other work, add a certain degree of life to the piece- attaching a living, breathing personality to the canvas or pedestal. The collage is constituted of different materials that range from scraps of images from newspapers to articles grasped from magazines. These sensational news reports act as a complicated background, providing factual information of the maltreatment of women and the dire predicament that is their situation. Other mediums utilised were sheets of texturised paper and rolls of tape. The tape pieces that were implemented by me were curled up and plastered onto the canvas and made to mimic buildings in a whimsical style. This was done to add to the texture of the work by disrupting the otherwise flat landscape. The piece ultimately serves as a perforation for me to understand this inherent problem of abuse within our society.
The installation work is composed of 5 separate pieces that aggregate themselves onto a plane to render an image. All five works belong to the same set, in the sense that they all have presence of the same organic patterns which alternate between designs around sudden holes to the fusing of different strands of wool. The only noticeable difference, at a first glance, would be the colour of the strands- 3 are grey and 2 are red. The red ones find themselves positioned in the middle, surrounded by the grey as the reds serve as representations of women and the grey portray men. The grey strands gently beleaguer the red ones and seem visually more dominating as they are larger and are positioned higher. This embodies the unfounded notion of male superiority and this work’s intent is focused around disproving this presumption. The red pieces do not slouch back in dismissal and abhorrence, but instead stand straight and beautiful as women should. The work is another stand against women abuse but in a more subtle way. It promotes equality between the perception of each gender and calls for an end to the persecution and oppression that women are subjected to. Wool is a material that is flexible and easy to morph, however it serves to be hard to knead into a particular shape. This is due to its soft nature that gives it its unimpeded flow. However I was allured by its use as a building material- its properties that enabled it to form rigid structures, if given enough push and pressure. Hence I used a felting needle to create strands of organic forms from various different hues felting wool in an attempt to assimilate more experience. This work is representational and abstract, it does not hold resemblance to anything other than figments of my imagination; acting as a manifestation of my creativity.
This work is one that renders an abused women into a strong being; one who possesses strength, courage and determination. On the surface, the sculpture is a bust created with bundles of wool. This wool was manipulated through the use of a felting needle and was tediously crafted into the form of a face and shoulders. On this basic form I used additional pieces of wool to embellish the base with features of a beautiful women; the eyes just the right proportion, the nose small and elegant and the mouth full and healthy. But this was not the side of women that I wished to portray. I wanted to render a work which speaks to the multifaceted integrity of an independent woman, not to give birth to a piece which showcased her beauty. Therefore I started adding hints and subtle hues of blue felt to the features. Eventually the amalgamation of blue gave the intended effect - the bruises began to appear all over the body. One stretching alongside the neck where her husband had streaked her with his hand. One on the top of her head where her father had a moment of misplaced anger. These marks would heal, eventually, but not the pain and impact that they leave on her subconscious. For the emotional wounds were harder to subdue, were harder to heal. The women has stood resilient in face of this maltreatment that had befallen her, and many others. She has stood unflinching with silent anger and denunciation at the aberrations in our society. This is why her face reflects a mood of silence and thought, not worry, pain or anger. She is embodying the pain to take a stand not only for herself but for all of those other women who face the same treatment. By embodying the pain, she takes a non violent stance that questions our maverick traditional thought. This idea is why her hair is blue. The title itself encapsulates this idea in a continuous tense as women abuse is still prevalent and on-going today. However, cognisance against such abuse is rising and people are taking a stand. There is hope for change, hope that one day this persecution will end.