Kalakriti Contemporary presents ‘A Note on Remembrance’ by Ekta Singha. The crux of Ekta’s work is the personal interpretation of layers of experiences woven with the paraphernalia of design motifs, forms and elements derived from miniature paintings. Her interest in Mughal, Persian and Rajput miniature paintings has helped her generate a language of her own. Then its the Visual experiences in a different point of time that she had received consciously and subconsciously that makes its entrance in the pictorial surface that is layered with metaphorical and personal references.

Anecdotes and memories of ancestral home and lineage in Bangladesh had played a strong role in her work. Creating patterns remain an integral part of my work and not just as an ornamental design. Rather it becomes an important visual tool to subtly transform experiences – disturbing events and memories through its consistent appearance. By this series of works the artist attempt to create a visual trope with the imagery so that they don’t become too didactic but at the same time demands certain attention from the viewer in order to articulate the works.

Medium and material both are an important part of her work as through the manipulation of various mediums and forms helps to create a layered image that is imbued with fragments of photographs, texts and found images/objects and designs. Finally, the image that comes out as an expansive terrain of multiple visual elements that constructs and manipulates each others existence and eventually creates a new image altogether. Ekta often use burnt papers and handcrafted papers to create the form of Jalis with geometrical designs (from Islamic architectures) and antique textures all adds up to creating the metaphorical surface of my work – use them to control the gaze of the viewer, like a hide and seek or invite the viewer to cherish the painting and seek images beneath the layers. The old photographs that she uses as a reference that is not only as a documentation of history and family chronology but also as a visual sensation as well. The Figuration in her work, itself talks about body politics and personal diaries. There is an interesting amalgamation of two traditions in my work one is the miniature painting tradition and the Pata scroll paintings. The miniature visual elements help me to create the desired pictorial surface but the scroll format helps me creating an expansive terrain that alike the Pata paintings create a sense of movement in the pictorial surface.

The exhibit is the juxtaposition of memories, metaphors and histories that tries to create images that not only visually but cerebrally engaging to the viewer.

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Preview: Saturday, 15th June 2019 at 6:30PM

Venue: Kalakriti Contemporary, Club Botanika Road, Jayabheri Enclave, Gachibowli, Hyderabad.

The exhibition is on view till 14th July 2019.