Poster Out : Our body, the mirror of the soul and our body speaks its own language- Farzana Ahmed Urmi

‘Time After Time’- Photography exhibition by Juhi Kulkarni.

The motivating factors of these creations are emotions and contortions of psyche. Most of the visuals capture solitude, longing, fear and serenity experienced by every individual.  It is a quest to explore and highlight unfathomable side of human nature.

Artist : Juhi Kulkarni

Delving into personal experiences of every person the artist capture their apprehensions, bliss and inner solace; these though are primarily on surmise. The meditative pose and feelings in some of them are the ultimate willingness of the individual to find internal peace in this world of chaos. In this series Juhi Kulkarni has ventured to explore women psychology. There is a common thread of feelings flowing though the images and viewers. We find a strong affection for life and viewer is at liberty to associate individual feeling to every image.

The reality is presented in esthetic manner and the expressions have emotional tableaux. The photography works as a facilitator to get people’s feelings, hopes and dreams across, therefore each image exceeds more than being a picture of someone consciously posing for camera.      

As stated by the artist herself, she draws inspiration from Purana and Ancient Indian Vedic culture, so the symbolism in her photography clearly depicts metaphysical aura.

E- Card

The unique feature of this series is the dual exposure of every photograph. The artist has perfectly developed her photographs as paintings. It shows that the photography is not just about shutterbugs and clicks but a reflection on pure self. Juhi Kulkarni is successful in doing so as she has given her photographs a touch of painting. Many images are actually the photographs of paintings. The lines and curves tangled in each other with an emotional face in foreground makes emotion unambiguous and true to its feelings.

The artist’s passionate photography is also seeded in the humanitarian steps that she carries out in her everyday life. Working as a volunteer in Art of Living course has made her probe within herself and added to her skill of capturing the real self of the people. Her charitable act of donating the proceedings from the sale to NGO ‘Gift a Smile’ again reflects her humanitarian and philanthropic character in her photography.

Interview with Juhi Kulkarni

P JK ( Pankaja JK)    JK ( Juhi Kulkarni)

The following interview highlights Photography artist Juhi Kulkarni’s positive attributes and professional inclinations that add life to her Still photography in her solo show ‘Time After Time’ to be held at Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai.

P. JK: Tell us about yourself.

J.K: I am a visual artist and I have been making art since I was 2 years old (that’s what my mother tells me!). I draw, make paintings and also take photographs and make installations. I have studied BA (Hons.) in Drawing from Camberwell College, London. Previously I had shown my works in London and Nagpur and “Time after Time” is my first solo show in Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai. I also work with an NGO that teaches people to live stress free and works with educating less privileged children.

P.JK: Which factors/elements play an important role in your photo shoot?

J.K: I draw inspiration and experience from everyday life.  My work is reflected by my own spiritual experiences and is translations of my observations from meditations as well as readings of Puranas and Vedic scriptures. My creation evolves from drawing and takes form of photos, paintings or installations. Experience is never unmediated and it is always influenced by what precedes and follows it, by memory and expectation, modes of sensory organization, culturally conditioned habits of mind and countless other factors that are both historically and socially produced. Experience in other words is multiple of meditation and infinitely variable. To experience something you have to be totally engaged into it. I believe in engaging the viewer into my works and giving them the space and time in imagination to make it their own.

P.JK: Why are you fascinated by old technology of photography?

J.K: It is the nostalgia of working with the analogue camera and it also carries a sense of fragility and anxiety. It is quite exciting actually and the result is unknown and not immediate like the digital ones. In a strange way, the sense of control is more in certain areas and less in the other. As the image emerges on the paper it is quite magical and reminds me of the child like experiences we have of awe and wonder and magic.

P.JK: Do you use computer graphics to modify your images?

J.K: I avoid doing that, but sometimes to salvage the image I have to do it. Also when a particular project requires, I use my digital camera and computer graphics to work on them.

P.JK: Why do you make it look like painting?

J.K: I am fascinated by the act of painting and the entire process of creating the image in this manner, and so some of my photographs have the painterly effect. Sometimes I photograph my paintings and use them for double exposures.

P.JK: Which is the most coveted emotion that you like to capture?

J.K: I would like to capture bliss but it seems a farfetched idea, so I work towards capturing movement, stillness and a sense of tipping point. Emotions are difficult to explain, especially when they arise after deep spiritual experiences of meditations, I have worked towards depicting them with a little reference from the Puranas and other Vedic scriptures.

P.JK: Like every photographer do you also intend to explore motion?

J.K: I have explored it in the past and its quite exciting and endearing process. But as it requires specialized skills and an efficient team I have postponed the plans of making short films for near future. As of now I want to show movement in photography, i.e. movement via stillness.

P.JK: What is the difference between black and white image and colorful one?

J.K: Both have their unique qualities and I feel it’s unfair to compare them.

P.JK: What do you do for your professional growth and perfection in photography?

J.K: Photography has such a large range of techniques and tools, that to master all is very difficult. I make a point to learn new techniques, polish old techniques and practice what I know everyday. I dedicate a specific period of time everyday to develop my work and am very focused and disciplined about it. As of now I am working with a medium range camera and would like to buy a better one as soon as possible to get sharper images and more clarity. I also work with old analog cameras like Pentex K1000 and the images from this require an entire different way of processing. By observing other photographers’ works and studying their techniques and ways of working I develop my own ideas and it is a part of my routine. Some of my favorite photographers are Raghu Rai, Andrede Freitas, Christoffer Relander and Sara Bryne. For me my concepts are also very important, they always carry either a social cause or a personal spiritual aspect, which I work very hard to really understand experience and translate it into my work. I believe that perfecting the being brings perfection in every other aspect of my life.

P.JK: You are also associated with teaching field, how do you relate photography to it, besides just giving charity from the sale of photographs?

J.K: Photograph is a very powerful tool of expression and it brings attention and awareness towards whatever is photographed. A good photo can give the viewer a moving experience and hence bring attention to the cause in hand. I try to provide visuals as means of education to imbibe deeper impact on mind. Try to impart knowledge to under privileged children with perseverance and dedication.      

 - By Pankaja JK

Enjoy and rejuvenate your soul by attending this show to be held on 14^th October till 20^th October at Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai. 

More details contact: juhi.kulkarni@gmail.com 

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The responsibility lies with people to be aware of its importance and to care and preserve it...Pankaja JK

"Nine Blinking" The project carried out by Cobalt Blu Art Project Association at Karnala Art Residency  on 27-28- 9-2014 aimed to highlight importance of natural habitat for nature’s beings. The responsibility lies with the people to be aware of its importance and to care and preserve it. The artists of Cobalt Blu project have made their genuine attempt to be with nature and praise it through their artistic creations.  

"Nine Blinking"  Artists at Karnala Art Residency 

Tathi Premchand’s installation of Star series on wall creates a cosmic aura. The galore of stars that are made from chock reflect the free flowing energy; never bounded by time and space. It reminds us of the importance of stars for their heat and light but they are more than that, they are spiritual beacon lights as well. Just as the web connects each star to one another, human life is also connected to every component of nature. The complexity of visual does not create a barrier in survival, exactly like the stars that are born in the cluster in galaxy; they grow and perish without disturbing the life of other surviving stars. Each retains its identity, so is the truth of living being on the earth. Society is a galaxy and livings being are star clusters growing, surviving and perishing with individual identity. As new star is born in galaxy almost everyday, so is the case with human beings and other living things.

Tathi Premchand working on wall

Peace loving Amit Kumar and his art depicted peace and spiritual lift. He perceives that the worldly matters forms layers of corrupt and dirty thoughts on the pure and sinless soul and mind of human being, which ultimately leads to regretful actions. Thus, to lead untainted life it becomes necessary to cleanse the soul and polish off these unwanted thought and attain inner peace. Amit showed this act of cleansing or removal of layers of demoralization and corrupt thoughts in metaphoric way. He carved a big a symbol of peace on the wall with sharp edged tool. The symbol represented the cleansed mind and soul; removal of negativity one’s mind and soul.   

working Amit Kumar at at Karnala Art Residency 

Life force was represented in the drawing of Shalaka Patil’s spiral form drawn on the external side of the wall of a house with an earthy red colour material soil known as Geru.  Spiral form is a basic symbol of evolution, creation, expansion, birth and death. It represents the goddess, the womb, fertility and life force energy.  Here too, the spiral form depicted the never ending cycle of creation, preservation and destruction. Infinite energy, the root of universe and everything that exists and it continues to hold together. By using this symbol all beings are reminded of their inward and outward evolution, a balanced and centered state of mind. The spiral drawing showcased rotating energy in proper symmetry on the wall of the house, where house itself seemed to be full potential energy provided by external rotational movement of energy in spiral steady rhythm and symmetry.

Work by Shalaka Patil

‘Autobiography of a log’ was a very nature sensitive installation by C. Ganacharya.  His tender feelings were expressed in feelings of a log that grew in wilds and experienced the company of every huge and minute living thing found in natural habitat.  The romantic log seems to be nostalgic and it expresses its nostalgia in verse: 

जब मै छोटा था,

बहुत बारिश होती थी 

जब मै और बढ़ने लगा,

सिर पैर हरियाली छा गयी 

तब चिड़ियाँ नाचने लगी मेरे सिर पर 

गिलहरियाँ दौड़ने लगी थीं 

लेकिन एक दिन अचानक.... 

Ganacharya,  as true to his nature lover’s spirit happily created wonderful life of forest without disturbing the harmony that it (forest) had already established before their project materialized. For this he used the cut log in forest and placed the white letters on it that looked like termites that depend on soft wood for survival. Thus, without disturbing nature, he created natural world which is left behind as a memorable patch as he left from there to breath the polluted air of urban domain. 

work by C. Gancharya

Pradeep Nerurkar created installation using natural elements. The ‘stone’ was used to give it a look of man- made thing called ‘suitcase’. His work ‘stone-case’ is wisely shown as a stone- case (a natural form of suitcase) as he places handle on it. The weight of stone was inferred as the suitcase with weight in it. The second installation based on same concept is called ‘Cloud-scape’. Clouds pour lavishly on this earth and are happy to see the transformation of dried and sun baked earth into the green environment. To enjoy this credit, cloud seemed to come and rest under a tree to observe the change closely. Prdeep Nerurkar  interpreted and felt the emotional high of cloud and tried to present the water- pregnant cloud’s emotional experience to us. 

Stone-case work by Pradeep Nerurkar

Aashish Thakuar  created a beautiful installation using naturally formed formicary or a mound of earth made by ants as they dig their nest. Around it, he gently places green leaves without disturbing the ants’ routine. The outcome is formation of green sunflower. 

Green water work by Aashish Thakur

Ashok Hinge created earthworms using pieces of clothes especially the typical blouse worn by women in village. The varied color blouses made his earthworms look colorful (may be it was intentional to make it look lively and eye catching). These colorful earthworms hung over the on-site natural wood. Earthworm is farmer’s natural friend, which helps him to dig the soil and make it soft for tilling. Ashok Hinge stated the importance of earthworms in the life of a farmer and ultimately to us. 

Earthworms work by Ashok Hinge

Deven Bane used an abandoned house that stood lifeless and isolated in the natural and green environment of Karnala.  Thief seemed to have broken into the house breaking the door and windows. Deven Bane  wonders what he could have robbed in this simple house which must be hardly having basic necessities. He highlights ‘Window’, which welcomes nature in form of breeze light and sound to enter the house and it also works as a protection against burglary. But this house surely fulfilled only hunger and lacked luxury. He put forward the doubt about what the thief must have stolen from such a living. To show the simplicity and the basic need of hunger satisfied by house, he showed smoke of hearth coming out of the broken window. Deven has  used the natural foliage to burn and create the smoke and convey his idea. 

Thief..work by Deven Bane

window - (noun), definition of a window is a pane of glass or wood in a house ,used to look through either literally or metaphoricaly,to see what is on the other side

Santosh Klabande used  his skill as a painter to paint on the tender, blooming banana leaves. He has sketched male and female form. The best part of this work is that it is not a static work and does not stop with sketching. The sketched female is shown as being pregnant. And as the leaf would bloom steadily, it will give the effect of blooming of new life. The work needs to be checked at least two times a week and be photographed to see progress and prospering new life. The excellent creative work that would need attention long after the on-site exhibition is complete was a Site Specific successfully carried out  exhibition by Cobalt Blu Art Project. Cobalt Blu intends to come up with newer ideas and carry out such projects. The new project is in planning and will be announed soon. If you wish to participate as an artist or viewer you are most welcome. To know more about it in advance please check the updates on Facebook page or visit the websites mentioned below. 

 - By Pankaja JK 

Site Specific ("Nine Blinking") Art by Cobalt Blu Art Project

Photography : PMJ / Film : Pranay Mane
Event Created : Deepali Dawane 

Official Blog h ttp://cobaltbluartproject.blogspot.in/
more photo view
http://newscobaltblu.blogspot.in/http://newscobaltblu.blogspot.in/

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Published for one-time use only with permission from Cobalt Blu Art Project. Photographs may not be saved, copied or republished on any other website.

Our body, the mirror of the soul and our body speaks its own language- Farzana Ahmed Urmi

Letter from Dhaka : Curatorial Note:

Farzana Ahmed Urmi

Farzana Ahmed Urmi's shows an intense interest in questions of perception - in the boundaries and potential of self experience, vision and painting. She has combined conscious vision and the fleeting perception of a blink in one image. Her paintings exhibit fascination with awkwardness and search for an distinct aesthetics from our academic visual arts. Her courage to use elective gestures lends her figures their eerie and powerful presence. Her portraitures are unnerving naked images of agony, anger, soreness, revenge or akin expressive emotions, as she is embracing the known and unknown faces of this urban society. She is striving to create her own artistic identity distinguished with visually penetrating psychological tension and compositional arrangements. 

While holding a MFA on Printmaking, Farzana is quite spontaneous to choose any technique as her media. Her surface making with various techniques and materials like paper, ink, watercolor, acrylic, oil, collage and drawn subjects with emotional brush or finger tapping strokes, tremendously shows how intensely she is physically involved with her work. In her work one can see body and psyche are inextricably linked and influenced by each other. Visually her works have a intense quality, as she is oscillating between Figuration and Abstraction. On a fleeting look, her paintings have a figurative quality. But giving a scrutiny, these paintings tend to look flat with dark monochromes, where she indented paring down to an abstraction of line, color, from, tension, mood and atmosphere. She achieves a degree of abstraction as she struggles to watch very closely to know the inner self of a person. This notion of closeness makes her portraits large and abstract to us, as if they have ambiguous hints of facial features. But they have a strong contour and wide-open eyes with lot of psychic expressions. This journey between figuration to abstraction or vice-versa, gives her subject an unsettling impact. And this way her grotesque and nuanced characters raise our everyday to the sublime.

Our body, the mirror of the soul and our body speaks its own language. Our body does not forget anything. Our body has its own psyche, which always tries to take the control over us with its own language. We can say, Farzana simply heard that united language of her body and psyche, which came out as a living visual experience of know to unknown


D h a k a A r t C e n t e r p r e s e n t s

Known Unknown
An art exhibition by Farzana Ahmed Urmi
On 16 October, 2014 at 6.30 pm

Eminent artist
Monirul Islam
will inaugurate the exhibition and
Critic Moinuddin khaled
will grace the occasion as special guest
You and your friends are cordially invited

Curated by Wakilur Rahman and Kehkasha Sabah
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प्रश्न असा- कला-जीवन कि जीवन-कला? by Pankaja JK.

प्रश्न असा-

कला-जीवन कि जीवन-कला?

Pankaja JK.

ACT-I

प्रोफेसर: तुला रेवथी बद्दल काय जाणून घ्यायचे आहे? (करण रेवथी जवळ जाताच) त्याला हात लावू नकोस!

करण: ह्या शिल्पात मला तिचा आत्मा जाणवतो, इतके जिवंत प्रतिक होते की, ती इथेच कुठेतरी आहे असे वाटते…विचारांत गुंतलेली …दुर वाटेवर नजर लावून कुणाची तरी वाट बघत… 

प्रोफेसर: Who the hell are you? कोण आहेस तू?

करण: तुम्ही सांगायचे आहे प्रोफेसर, रेवथी कोण आहे?

प्रोफेसर: मला सत्य आणि कलेतील फरक विचारतोस?

करण: मी खऱ्या रेवथी बद्दल बोलतो आहे. 

प्रोफेसर: ह्या शिल्पाचा आणि रेवथीचा काहीही संबंध नाही. 

करण:मग हे शिल्प स्वयंभू आहे?

प्रोफेसर: मला वाटत तुझ्या समीक्षेचा काहीच उद्देश नाही आहे. बाकीचे exhibition बघ आणि चालायला लाग. माझ्या कलेबद्दल लिहिण्याची काही गरज नाही आहे. 

करण: आम्हाला समीक्षा करण्यासाठी कोणाच्या परवानगीची गरज लागत नाही.  

प्रोफेसर: तुझे नाव??? हां! करण, तर आत्मविश्वासी करण, एक सांग तुम्ही लोकं पोट भरण्यासाठी दुसऱ्याचे आयुष्य expose का करता? असे दुसऱ्यांना धमकावणे सोडा, सर्जनशील व्हा, काहीतरी creative करा.   

करण: मान्य आहे, पण हे जर धमकावणे वाटत असेल तर तुमच्या कामाबद्दल कोण लिहिणार? जर मी नाही लिहिले तर हे दगड…ज्यांना तुम्ही कलाकृती म्हणता, वजनाच्या भावाने विकले जातील.  

प्रोफेसर: (रागात एक शिल्प फोडत) आश्चर्य वाटलं?  तुझ्या म्हणण्याप्रमाणे हा दगड आहे ना? मी फोडला! तुला शिल्पकार आणि दगद फोड्यातील फरक माहिती आहे का? एका दगड फोड्याचे काम असते यांत्रिकपणे दगड फोडणे, तो त्याचा व्यवसाय अस्तो. पण शिल्पकार दगडाला आकार देताना विचार करतो, विचारांती शिल्प तयार होते, ऐतिहासिक रचना होते. प्राचीन काळातील दगडांवर कोरलेल्या आकृत्या, त्यांचे सांकेतिक भाष्य कोरीव कामात दडलेल्या माहिती, त्याबद्दल तुला काय म्हणायचे आहे? ते कोरणारे दगड फोडे होते कि शिल्पकार?

करण: म्हणजे … 

प्रोफेसर म्हणजे, तुला काय वाटलं? कला काय आहे? तुला वस्तूंतील गुण कळतात?

करण: असेलही, नाही कळत, पण प्रोफेसर इथे प्रश्न वस्तूंचा नाही, स्त्रीचा आहे. तुम्हाला स्त्रियांच्या गुणांनबद्दल काहीच कळत नाही. …… 

ACT-II

.....

प्रोफेसर: तुला काय म्हणायचे आहे, स्पष्ट बोल. 

करण: तुम्ही तर 'त' म्हणता ताक ओळखता! एक सांगा, प्रत्येक कलाकाराची कुणीतरी  प्रेरणा असते, त्यातून निर्माण केलेली कलाकृती त्याच्या स्वतःच्या आयुष्याइतकीच मोलाची असते न?

प्रोफेसर: हो, अगदी खर आहे. त्या कलाकृतीचे मोलच नसते. 

करण: तुम्ही सगळी शिल्प विकलीत, मग रेवथी का नाही? ती विकणारच नाही, असे ठाम का आहात? का? कोण आहे ती?

प्रोफेसर: करण! काहीही अर्थ लावण्याचा प्रयत्न करू नकोस. आपल्या समीक्षेला कल्पकता देऊ नकोस. मी फक्त एक शिल्पकार आहे. तुझ्या सारखेच मला हे शिल्प जिवंत भासते, त्यातील आत्मा मला आकर्षित करतो. बस्स! एवढेच!

करण: मग विकून टाका.  

प्रोफेसर करण!! नाही, कधीच नाही … 

करण: कारण?

To be continued....( please send feedback to writer pankajajk@gmail.com)
Published for one-time use only with permission from Pankaja JK.

(A still  and image- for illustrative purpose only / no copyright)