Cultural exchanges of artists, or artist residencies are not unheard of. But Hyderabad has only begun to warm up to the idea with the first ever international artists’ exchange between Telangana and Bordeaux Metropole, France.
This has been a result of the “co-operation agreement” signed between the governments of Telangana and France. And this May, Hyderabadi artist Faiza Hasan will be representing the art scene of India.
An ecstatic Faiza says, “I wasn’t expecting anything and I didn’t give it much thought… but now that it’s happened, I am really looking forward to the enriching experience.” What is she expecting to gain from the residency? She replies, “I want to have an open mind and not expect anything. I will be visiting a lot of studios and will be interacting with a lot of artists, such exchanges surely magnify your perspective.”
Facilitator of the programme Coline Dehaye, who currently works out of the Alliance Française office, says, “We sent all the entries to Bordeaux and a committee of artists and gallery owners got together to make a decision, they saw great potential in Faiza.”
Adding to that Rekha Lahoti, from Kalakriti Art Gallery, says, “One of the reasons why she was on our gallery’s recommendation list was because she has a spark. She is someone who thinks out of the box. She tries to amalgamate a variety of mediums on canvas, and that kind of ability makes for a key ingredient of a good artist.”
