Ode to spirit of womanhood

Coinciding with the celebration of womanhood during Durga Puja, Art Indus Gallery has organised a 17-day long art exhibition by ten women artists who have come together on a single platform to convey the message of importance of femininity and woman power through their paintings. The main objective of the exhibition titled Devi-Devi is to celebrate the power, beauty and glory of nine goddesses from Indian mythology. 

The women artists, Arpana Caur, Seema Kohli, Shipra Bhattacharya, Jayasri Barman, Gogi Saroj pal, Kanchan Chander, Bulbul Sharma, Kristine Michael, Rini Dumal and Vasundhara Tewari Broota have tried to raise awareness amongst people and influence their attitudes and mindsets towards women through the various paintings. 

Commenting on the theme of the exhibition, one of the artists, Kanchan Chander said that she has been working on the Devi series for many years and most of her paintings have been inspired by the ancient Indian structures. She also said that her paintings are mainly aimed at reflecting positivity, fertility and spirituality of a woman. 

Further, explaining the objective of the entire exhibition,  Arpana Caur said, ’Women these days are portrayed with so much negativity surrounding them, they are increasingly becoming victims of violent abuse and crimes. Therefore, I think this is a good time to make people aware of the positivity and power of womanhood and that is what I have tried to reflect in my paintings.’

Speaking on behalf of the other artists, Bulbul Sharma said,‘With these paintings, with these powerful images, we have tried to pay tribute to all women and celebrate the goddess that lives within us each of us. We salute the elements that have formed us as we connect to our ancient roots and remind ourselves that we must be humane, compassionate and venerating on our thoughts and actions.’ The ever-effervescent Sharma added, ‘Devi’s eternal divine, protective and benevolent presence lives within all of us.’