Focus on progress but don’t forget preservation, says ceramic artist Ajaysingh Bhadoriya

Artists exhibiting at Mumbai’s Jehangir Art Gallery share insights on art as creativity, profession and cultural memory.

PhotoSparks is a weekly feature from YourStory, with photographs that celebrate the spirit of creativity and innovation. In the earlier 250 posts, we featured an art festival, cartoon gallery, world music festival, telecom expo, millets fair, climate change expo, wildlife conference, startup festival, Diwali rangoli and jazz festival.

Mumbai’s premier Jehangir Art Gallery recently hosted an exhibition featuring the works of Shantaram Belkar and the Tatva Collective (Prakash Gaikwad, Ajaysingh Bhadoriya, Sunil Ningule). All the artists are alumni of J.J. School of Art in Mumbai.

Their creativity spans a wide range of forms, themes, styles and materials – including broken earthenware and old newspapers. Some of the exhibitors are full-time artists, others are freelancers working in diverse areas like movie set design.

“Creativity can be explored wherever you are, in any and every object or scene around you,” said Shantaram Belkar, in a chat with YourStory. He has drawn inspiration for his art works even from a bicycle stand.

Art can shine the light on inner beauty as well as outward appearances, on ugliness alongside beauty, explains Prakash Gaikwad. Some of his works have highlighted the creativity as well as suffering of tribal communities.

Ajaysingh Bhadoriya specialises in stoneware and bone china. “India is progressing and developing rapidly, but also losing touch with its past,” he cautions.

“It is the duty of artists to preserve cultural memories in a creative manner,” he adds. His works show fragments of old buildings in India, and the works themselves are shown as fragments. His exhibitions have been featured in Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bengaluru (VR Bengaluru, Whitefield).

“Focus on progress but don’t forget preservation,” he signs off, as advice to audiences and artists.

Now what have you done today to put one foot in the future but the other firmly grounded in our past?

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