Leaves from an artist’s journal

Mumbai-based artist,Bharati Kapadia,recently met up with some of Pune’s budding painters at the Waves Art Gallery,where she spoke about her work series from 1991 to 2011 and revealed how her wandering mind as a child and her sense of longing inspired her creativity. She quit her job as a curator and took to full time ‘unconventional painting’. In her 1991 series,a rope was the protagonist. “The desire to unfold,reach out,untie and wonder was brought in the rope,” she explained to the students. Later,she completed a series titled ‘Coaster Project: Destination,The World’,which featured paintings on 4X4 inch coasters,inspired by the 1992-93 Mumbai riots. The artist has furthur experimented with grains,peeled hand-made paper,and leaves of the peepal tree. Her peepal leaf series,titled ‘Search Within’,was a joint effort by artists from Austria and India. “The peepal leaves,when dry,are translucent and apt objects to showcase transparency and what goes on in the human mind. It depicts the void in our lives.” Kapadia won many international accolades for the series. Thereafter,she tried her hands on nylon thread collages. Her ongoing series is titled ‘Leaves From My Journal’,and is based on a mixed media of hand-made paper,fabric and paint. Kapadia is also working on sculptures with old photo frames,iron handles,bottle stoppers,hand-made sling strap and metal hand fans.