Hyderabad Urban Lab organised event Do din focuses on the well being of the city, and takes a close look at various issues and aspects related to it. This year’s theme is Sheher Kiska, and several art installations were a prominent part and the main attraction amongst the many events taking place.
“To whom does the city belong is an interesting concept to work on. Through my installation I have tried to bring forth the idea that the city belongs to everyone. Some have been here from generations while others have roots in other places but have settled here and have developed a new base and foundation to their existence,” says artist Deba Brata Biswas. His work contains footwear of varied sizes and colours placed under a tent-like structure which represents the extent of the city.
The footwear symbolically represents people from varied backgrounds, colour and traditional beliefs. Similarly, Archana Rajguru’s work titled, My Quilt, emphasises the co-existence of all kinds of people in a city. She has arranged a group of shirts of varied colours and sizes embedded with intricate drawings that represent imagery about past memories as well as aspirations for the future that the person imbibes within his entity.
Deba Brata Biswas’s work talks about one’s belonging.
Strikingly personalised work by Raghavendra Angali contains a huge self portrait surrounded by a set of eclectic, man-made objects. The portrait has been created out of coated plywood panels placed in five layers that meet together when seen from the front. “My work recreates my identity and the objects represent the many aspects of the city that intrigue me as an artist. My city for me is a source of inspiration,” he shares.
Bringing forth a prominent aspect related to the identity of the city, a painting by Avani Rao Gandra titled Between Rootedness and Rootlessness talks about migration and settlement in a semi-abstract vocabulary. “The painting is a metaphysical symbol of a man’s quest about migration and transition. The evolution, the shift, the willingness or unwillingness, to convert or to alter gets manifested through a boat afloat over layers of memory,” she explains.
On the other hand, Shweta Chandra’s work talks about the sense of belonging. On this she says, “In my installation I have used text which reads, ‘I belong to you and you belong to me’. The process of growing seedlings is metaphoric to nurturing our existence of birth, growing years, education, work life and so on. The bond which becomes stronger with each passing day reflects the energy that exists between the person and the place which they value and treasure immensely.”
