Renowned charcoal artist Ajay De has been commissioned by the Sleepy Hollow village of New York to create his own version of artwork based on the famous 1820 short story “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” written by Washington Irving. The artist has completed the first painting in charcoal and is now set to begin work remaining works. The painting which De says has been dispatched to the United States, showcases a Trishul in the hands of the legendary infamous character of the story ‘The Headless Horseman’ and New York authorities are loving it. “There have been many paintings created on the Headless Horseman but this has been the first time that an Indian artist has been approached to create something like this. They wanted to have the painting done in charcoal and in my style and I felt a Trishul was the apt way to highlight an Indian aspect to it,” says De who has now begun creating three more works in the series.
PRAYER FLAGS FOR PEACE
Kolkata-based curator and artist Sufia Khatoon is all set to showcase her art installation the 500 Peace Poetry Prayer Flag installation at Mumbai’s Kala Ghoda Festival in February this year. The installation, she says is aimed to heal our conflicted world with poetry as prayer written by poets and authors to engage with people in public spaces. A lifetime work, Sufia aims to collect one million poems on peace. The project had initially been presented with 300 prayer flags in Kolkata and is expected to have 500 flags. “I was inspired from a trip in the mountains of Gangtok, where a thousand prayer flags fluttered in the air to pay respect to the dead as a tradition of that place. It somehow invoked in me to create that peaceful serenity I felt that time, to realize that prayers can heal people; maybe poetry prayers can heal our conflicted world too. The installation which I have taken to showcase poetry in public spaces, has been conceptualized for over a three years, collecting poems on peace from all poets, living all across our world from Philippines to Italy, UK, USA, Japan, Tehran, India especially Kashmir, North East, Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Hyderabad and many more cities and countries demanding a positive world to live in. This installation along with the language of peace paintings is a positive initiative in bridging the gaps,” she adds informing that the installation will also feature poems from poets from war torn Ukraine.
‘SUKSHMA’ COMPRISES OF PAINTINGS WHICH ARE VISUAL TREAT
Hyderabad-based Artist Madhu Kuruva’s ongoing exhibition ‘Sukshma’ comprising of paintings, mixed media on paper, etchings, and pen drawings at Mumbai’s Jehangir Art Gallery are a visual treat. The artist depicts nature and the oneness between all kinds of birds, animals, flora and fauna, and human beings in his work. The exhibition is on till 11 January, 2023.
DECCAN’S ROYAL SAVIOUR
The Deccan plateau is all set to have a state-of-the-art all-inclusive Grassland Research Station soon. Brainchild of wildlife photographer and founder of Deccan Conservation Foundation (DCF), Indrajeet Ghorpade, the research centre will address long-term questions in conservation research such as landscape ecology, behaviour and evolution that are integral to any conservation breeding program. Spread across an area spanning 8000 square feet, the Centre according to Indrajeet (who hails from north Karnataka and belongs to the Gajendragad and Sandur branch of the Ghorpade family and of the erstwhile princely state of Sandur) will have an auditorium, an animal rescue centre, library etc and aims to link up with international Universities looking to conduct research on species related to Deccan. Indrajeet’s fascination for wildlife and the Deccan grasslands has been since childhood but his keen interest to take it a step further happened when he began photographing the wolves and later saving them in their habitat. “I have the most respect for this animal. Right from childhood I have been brought up with stories about wolves. The wolf features in fables and stories and they have very much been a part of our landscape. I have heard wolves howl in the night on a full moon, sleeping as a child in Gajendragad. It is a part of my being. I am an awe of this creature because not only has it survived the Ice Age but it also controls much of the eco system that we presently are a part of,” he says adding that his fascination for this species led him to start the DCF.
