In 2018, Dinar Sultana, Protyusha Mitra and Rinku Choudhury showcased some of their art works in Hyderabad as part of Shrishti Art Gallery’s annual showcase, Emerging Palettes, in Hyderabad. The gallery, along with Goethe Zentrum, showcases select works of emerging artists each year. Thirteen artists were chosen from 150 applications in 2018. This time, the gallery has decided to put the spotlight on three artists to present a larger showcase of their works, highlighting their distinctive styles and themes.

Let’s talk about depression

Rinku Choudhary

Rinku Choudhary  

An underlying sense of pathos runs through this Rinku Choudhary’s series. Narrated from the point of view of a young woman, the paintings depict urban loneliness, mood swings, insomnia and deep-rooted anxiety. “I went through depression for a year. While I began healing, with the help of therapy, I felt the need to paint what I had been going through,” says Rinku, who is an assistant professor in the College of Art, Delhi University.

She began this series in December 2018 and it grew seamlessly, from one work to another. “I wasn’t able to communicate certain thoughts even to my therapist, but I discovered that I was able to present it through art. It was therapeutic and helped me look at depression with objectivity,” she reflects.

Though the topic mental health is no longer taboo, Rinku feels we have to go a long way to be able to discuss it freely. “Many of us are still ashamed to talk about depression,” she points out. Rinku hails from a large family and yet, there were phases where she felt lonely.

For this series, she began with the female figure - a manifestation of herself, and then created her world. Now that her series is being exhibited for the first time, Rinku is waiting to gauge how her family and art viewers respond to it.

Ever-changing cities

Protyusha Mitra

Protyusha Mitra  

Architectural outlines of a cityscape peep through bright-hued circular discs in Proytusha Mitra’s series. The co-existence of heritage structures and contemporary buildings can resonate with any city. Pratyusha mentions being drawn towards landscapes as an art student. She grew up in Kolkata and Santiniketan, and did her masters in art from Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda. “While I was studying in Baroda, the smart city project had just begun and I was observing the contrasts between the heritage structures and newer ones,” she says.

The ever-changing cityscapes as a result of human intervention continue to fascinate her. In Santiniketan, she observes how an erstwhile semi-urban town has grown to embrace contemporary architecture, while retaining some of its native fetishes — like the fondness for bright colours.

Though Protyusha largely uses bright red, green or blue backgrounds and the architectural outlines in white, she also moves towards monochromes for some works. “The newer cities are more greyish, in contrast to the colourful older structures,” she reasons.

Inspired by the earth

Dinar Sultana

Dinar Sultana  

The Bangladesh-based artist’s series is steeped in earthy, muted tones of browns. She uses paper made of natural fibre sourced from agricultural crop waste, flower petals, clay and jute.

Her work is an ode to the earth and folk arts in rural Bangladesh. “I look at my art as a means to respond and react to my surroundings. With urbanisation, we’ve begun using synthetic materials - in our clothing, food containers and so on. In Joypurhat where I live, we can still stay closer to our roots and I like using natural material,” she emphasises.

Layers, by Dinar Sultana  

One of Dinar’s works titled ‘Dryness’ depicts the soil texture during summer, and she presents mosaic-like formations called ‘The cell’, before moving to deeper hues of indigo and dusts of coal - all using paper made from agriculture waste. She also presents imagery of the Pora Mati folk art, the Tree of Life, and a prayer mat. “I wanted to create a visual narration that’s poetic and can touch upon various aspects of life around me, from the traditional doors in temples to prayer mats, agriculture to politics of coal,” she sums up.

(Triloka is on view at Shrishti Art Gallery, Jubilee Hills, till July 7)