Land as a canvas

When you enter the studio of artist Chippa Sudhakar in Kismatpur, where an art workshop has been taking place, you will be surprised by how much the studio has changed in a week. Twelve artists transformed the area into an art space, and the canvas was the land.

The first thing to grab your attention is a creeper and the beautiful flowers that seem off-season. On close inspection, you’ll find that the entire creeper is an art installation by Lakshmi Niharika. “When I stepped into the studio, the real creepers got my attention. But they dried up soon, so I recreated it. Since my work also deals with relationships, I created a hand that points towards the plants to show a connection with nature,” says Niharika.

One look at the works and you’ll realise that they are all biodegradable. The tree house up the banyan tree by artist Wangdi Sherpa is very intriguing. “I shifted so many homes till now that nothing feels permanent. So when I thought of an installation, the idea of a temporary home popped up first,” he says. Wangdi’s artwork has always been very interactive. “Here, guests can climb up the tree house and sit there. The idea was to also mix music with art and so I as a performance, I played my mountain flute in the tree house.”

Made with a mix of roots and wool is an installation that looks like a giant cocoon and you’re instantly drawn towards it. Inside the brown structure hangs a small green ball of wool and Rajashree Nayak the artist says,  “The outer shell is like a seed. The idea is to convey how everyone has so much potential, and that we’re all like plants waiting to grow out of our shell.”

When you get past that, out in the vast open land, you will come across wool strewn across the grass. Artist Arka Bhattacharya, who used 150 ft of land to create this installation, says, “The idea was to transform the land without changing it. First, I laid wool across the area, but a herd of buffaloes walked through it and the wool got entangled in their hooves. The buffaloes added their bit to my work and so I decided to let it stay as is,” he says. The workshop also saw talks by eminent artists and artist Laxma Goud also gave the students feedback.
 

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