The Young Edge: Behind the journey of those who have established themselves as ARTreprenurs

She dropped out of college and started applying to art schools. Her dream almost came true when she got into a college in Germany. “But the loan didn’t come through and it was the start of a really difficult time for me, as it took a toll on my mental health. It spiralled into depression and I tried to end it all, but my parents really stood by me,” said the Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar resident.

In 2022, at the beginning of the New Year, Ghodele started taking steps to turn her life around and working on her first project. “I decided to do mural work on the wall of a railway station. It was my first project, so I funded it myself, got permission from authorities and did it to get some start,” said Ghodele.

That was the beginning and Ghodele has not looked back since then. She designed a poster for the movie Pardah by K Rohit Ramswami, a wall graffiti for a tea store chain across Pune and Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar, and also painted the wall of the amphitheatre of a multinational company in Hyderabad.

Ghodele came under the spotlight after she led a team of 100 women and set a record for the largest Warli painting on a wall in the India Book of Records. The wall, covering an area of 3,200 square feet, was commissioned by the municipal corporation of Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar for the G20 summit in 2023.

“Being so young, it was difficult to convince people I could take up and complete such a big project. I got only five minutes with the commissioner, I had a PPT ready and I was confident about it, so I got the approval. I handled A to Z of the project and decided to get woman artists on board to promote their work,” said Ghodele.

Ghodele conducts sip and paint workshops in Pune and Sambhajinagar, and has taught art to more than 1,500 people. “Earlier, even Rs 2,000 used to feel like a big deal earning through art. But eventually, it has been through Instagram that I am getting leads to earn my bread and butter. Every client, every project and every workshop came to me through Instagram. The amount increased to Rs 15,000 to 20,000 per month. It is obviously never the same every month. Then the needle moved to 25,000 to Rs 40,000 a month. This month, I earned a lakh,” said Ghodele.

‘Takes many years to find footing’

She is among youngsters who are passionate about art and have it taken up as a job.

After getting exposure through the world of social media, Shantanu Deshmukh, a 25-year-old from a small village in Akola district, decided to take the plunge and come to Pune to fulfil his dream of making it big as an artist. Once a dance content creator on TikTok, which shut down a few years ago, he switched to making portraits of celebrities on peepal leaves. This offbeat medium of art helped him garner traction on Instagram and he started getting commissions and invited by celebrities like Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma.

Deshmukh has to support his father, who has terminal cancer, and tried to find ways of making his art a financially viable livelihood. Now, he earns between Rs 15,000 and Rs 25,000 and sends some money to his family. From regular canvases to 3D portraits and textiles to name a few, Deshmukh now creates art on several mediums.

Kokila Bhattacharya, an illustrator, visual artist, designer, and activist, has always been fascinated by art. “My parents told me I started drawing before I started speaking. I’m an introvert so the latter is still second nature,” said Bhattacharya.

Bhattacharya, 30, initially thought of pursuing art professionally, but after getting into the National Institute of Design (NID), she dropped out in a year. “It was 10 years ago. I was disenchanted by institutions, and wanted to work in the social sector,” she said.

Most of Bhattacharya’s work revolves around socio-political issues and advocacy, and she doesn’t work for for-profit organisations. She has worked with the Bhopal museum that honours the stories of survivors and has delivered talks done around it, and with environmental non-government organisations as well. Simultaneously, she commissions art, which she calls her bread and butter, through organisations like Unicef, Greenpeace, Gaysi, Youth Alliance, Sangath, the YP Foundation, CFA, and Empower among others.

About making a living through art, she said, “It takes many years to find footing for steady freelance clients, but once you do and with the right planning, one can manage. Although one has to be versatile in their style, mediums, and the kind of designs they practise because we’re fortunately and finally moving away from specialisation towards interdisciplinary practices”.

Similarly, an architecture student, Avantika Bharati also commissions artwork as she finishes college. She earns Rs 20,000 a month.