Report: The Purusha Prakriti exhibition, Ahmedabad
Devin Gawarvala's two-year-old venue in Ahmedabad, Bespoke Art Gallery, is currently hosting the ambitious Purusha Prakriti art exhibition curated by Uma Nair. Dedicated to artist Himmat Shah, who died in March this year – Head from his London series occupies a place of honour at the entrance of the gallery -- the works on display, according to the curatorial note, 'symbolise the dual principles of nature and consciousness'. Ankon Mitra's A Fleeting Moment of Infinite Bliss and Ram Kumar Manna's Ganeshas (Saurabh Sharma)
Visitors to the gallery are sure to be captivated by Simon Max Bannister's Falcon, a bronze-and-stone-sculpture that strangely recalls Helen Macdonald's memoir H Is for Hawk, in the way it exudes both grace and grief alongside a love for birds. Curator Uma Nair (Saurabh Sharma)
Three stoneware works by Keshari Nandan Kumar, (Nair reveals the younger artist 'happens to be a great favourite of Shah') titled Bapu, Animal and Owl appear to be inspired by Pablo Picasso.
Ahmedabad-based Karl Antao's wooden art forms, Symphony of Breathes and Symphony of Phases, too hark back to Picasso. Nair says their visual grammar 'reminded me of the Africans', adding that one mustn't forget that 'Picasso first studied African art to get into modern art'.
Sudip Roy's luminous water colours, Faith and Conversations, celebrate the richness of Banaras. Another piece on the city of death that is absolutely stunning is an untitled Manu Parekh from 1997 that was exclusively for this collection.
Nilesh Vede's giant artwork, Enlightenment, Nair notes, is typical 'Purusha Prakriti'. The moon, in this work, she says, belongs to everyone, effusively reminiscent of vintage Bollywood songs. At the Bespoke Art Gallery with Harsh Durugadda's yellow Topo Sculpturein the foreground (Saurabh Sharma)
Two pieces from Muzaffar Ali's Calligraphy series recalled, for this viewer at least, Orhan Pamuk's line that 'From tiny experiences we build cathedrals'. Both works demonstrate how several layers of meaning can be hidden beneath a work of art for those willing to engage with it. Gazing at these works, the viewer feels compelled to think about everything from religion, media and history to contemporary politics and modern life.
Ankon Mitra's pieces are unmissable. A Fleeting Moment of Infinite Bliss is suspended from the ceiling while The Framed Frame, 'a frame within a frame', that decorates a gallery wall challenges the viewer's perception.
Occupying the central spot of the exhibition space is Dhananjay Singh's untitled artwork, which can easily be called The Tree of Life. However, in not naming this tree made of steel wires, which so effortlessly informs viewers of Singh's deep interest in nature and his understanding of botany, he allows art enthusiasts to wonder about the inspiration behind this work. 'Singh has been doing trees for more than 25 years,' states Nair who pointing to the work's microscopic detailing.
From nature to divinity is but a small leap and Ram Kumar Manna's two terracotta Ganeshas present the god's fun avatar while also conveying his Vighnaharta aspect – the One who removes obstacles. Rini Dhumal's love for the 'Shakti image' is reflected in her Devi. Poonam Bhatnagar's Buddha and Meerabai convey both the calming meditative vibe of Buddhism and the absolute surrender of Bhakti respectively.
Padma Shri-awardee Bhajju Shyam's three artworks demonstrate his control over his craft. The pen on paper work entitled Vriksha 1 and the other two untitled acrylics on canvas show his unmatched ability to centralises the power of nature.
The marble eye in Arzan Khambatta's bronze work, Mustang Sally, immediately arrests the viewer's attention. Subrat Kumar Behera's Gandhi challenges the generally-held perception of the Mahatma. Never have his eyes looked as ferocious as they do here. At the bottom are his famous three monkeys that allude to his principles. The bare cloth that covers Gandhi's upper body rises in the shape of wings making the viewer wonder if they, perhaps, signal the work's satirical nature.
Harsh Durugadda's yellow Topo Sculpture, Gillie and Marc's They Like Doing Things Differently and Jesús Curia's Construction I signal a queering of nature. Or perhaps they're trying to challenge the conventional understanding and appreciation of nature in fixed categories. The last two works celebrate nature in all its complexity and do not separate desire into normative and non-normative terms as they usually are in India, which is largely a culture hinged on conformity.
Adding much joy throughout the exhibition are KG Subramanyan's six untitled works, all of which commemorate natural beauty in both bare strokes and dense forms. They stand out from the rest in a way only trademark Subramanyan pieces can. Gillie and Marc's They Like Doing Things Differently (Saurabh Sharma)
Clearly the themes of influence, confluence and connection pulse through the exhibition that includes the work of artists from across generations and geographies who all seem to engage with ideas of the interdependence between 'man and nature'.
The exhibition which began in April and will go on until the end of June also coincided with Earth Month making the point that what perhaps really unites humans is their innate and often unconscious desire to (re)produce nature in their own works of art.
'Purusha Prakriti' is on view till 30 June 2025.
Saurabh Sharma is a Delhi-based writer and freelance journalist. They can be found on Instagram/X: @writerly_life.
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Hindustan Times
2 days ago
- Hindustan Times
Report: The Purusha Prakriti exhibition, Ahmedabad
Devin Gawarvala's two-year-old venue in Ahmedabad, Bespoke Art Gallery, is currently hosting the ambitious Purusha Prakriti art exhibition curated by Uma Nair. Dedicated to artist Himmat Shah, who died in March this year – Head from his London series occupies a place of honour at the entrance of the gallery -- the works on display, according to the curatorial note, 'symbolise the dual principles of nature and consciousness'. Ankon Mitra's A Fleeting Moment of Infinite Bliss and Ram Kumar Manna's Ganeshas (Saurabh Sharma) Visitors to the gallery are sure to be captivated by Simon Max Bannister's Falcon, a bronze-and-stone-sculpture that strangely recalls Helen Macdonald's memoir H Is for Hawk, in the way it exudes both grace and grief alongside a love for birds. Curator Uma Nair (Saurabh Sharma) Three stoneware works by Keshari Nandan Kumar, (Nair reveals the younger artist 'happens to be a great favourite of Shah') titled Bapu, Animal and Owl appear to be inspired by Pablo Picasso. Ahmedabad-based Karl Antao's wooden art forms, Symphony of Breathes and Symphony of Phases, too hark back to Picasso. Nair says their visual grammar 'reminded me of the Africans', adding that one mustn't forget that 'Picasso first studied African art to get into modern art'. Sudip Roy's luminous water colours, Faith and Conversations, celebrate the richness of Banaras. Another piece on the city of death that is absolutely stunning is an untitled Manu Parekh from 1997 that was exclusively for this collection. Nilesh Vede's giant artwork, Enlightenment, Nair notes, is typical 'Purusha Prakriti'. The moon, in this work, she says, belongs to everyone, effusively reminiscent of vintage Bollywood songs. At the Bespoke Art Gallery with Harsh Durugadda's yellow Topo Sculpturein the foreground (Saurabh Sharma) Two pieces from Muzaffar Ali's Calligraphy series recalled, for this viewer at least, Orhan Pamuk's line that 'From tiny experiences we build cathedrals'. Both works demonstrate how several layers of meaning can be hidden beneath a work of art for those willing to engage with it. Gazing at these works, the viewer feels compelled to think about everything from religion, media and history to contemporary politics and modern life. Ankon Mitra's pieces are unmissable. A Fleeting Moment of Infinite Bliss is suspended from the ceiling while The Framed Frame, 'a frame within a frame', that decorates a gallery wall challenges the viewer's perception. Occupying the central spot of the exhibition space is Dhananjay Singh's untitled artwork, which can easily be called The Tree of Life. However, in not naming this tree made of steel wires, which so effortlessly informs viewers of Singh's deep interest in nature and his understanding of botany, he allows art enthusiasts to wonder about the inspiration behind this work. 'Singh has been doing trees for more than 25 years,' states Nair who pointing to the work's microscopic detailing. From nature to divinity is but a small leap and Ram Kumar Manna's two terracotta Ganeshas present the god's fun avatar while also conveying his Vighnaharta aspect – the One who removes obstacles. Rini Dhumal's love for the 'Shakti image' is reflected in her Devi. Poonam Bhatnagar's Buddha and Meerabai convey both the calming meditative vibe of Buddhism and the absolute surrender of Bhakti respectively. Padma Shri-awardee Bhajju Shyam's three artworks demonstrate his control over his craft. The pen on paper work entitled Vriksha 1 and the other two untitled acrylics on canvas show his unmatched ability to centralises the power of nature. The marble eye in Arzan Khambatta's bronze work, Mustang Sally, immediately arrests the viewer's attention. Subrat Kumar Behera's Gandhi challenges the generally-held perception of the Mahatma. Never have his eyes looked as ferocious as they do here. At the bottom are his famous three monkeys that allude to his principles. The bare cloth that covers Gandhi's upper body rises in the shape of wings making the viewer wonder if they, perhaps, signal the work's satirical nature. Harsh Durugadda's yellow Topo Sculpture, Gillie and Marc's They Like Doing Things Differently and Jesús Curia's Construction I signal a queering of nature. Or perhaps they're trying to challenge the conventional understanding and appreciation of nature in fixed categories. The last two works celebrate nature in all its complexity and do not separate desire into normative and non-normative terms as they usually are in India, which is largely a culture hinged on conformity. Adding much joy throughout the exhibition are KG Subramanyan's six untitled works, all of which commemorate natural beauty in both bare strokes and dense forms. They stand out from the rest in a way only trademark Subramanyan pieces can. Gillie and Marc's They Like Doing Things Differently (Saurabh Sharma) Clearly the themes of influence, confluence and connection pulse through the exhibition that includes the work of artists from across generations and geographies who all seem to engage with ideas of the interdependence between 'man and nature'. The exhibition which began in April and will go on until the end of June also coincided with Earth Month making the point that what perhaps really unites humans is their innate and often unconscious desire to (re)produce nature in their own works of art. 'Purusha Prakriti' is on view till 30 June 2025. Saurabh Sharma is a Delhi-based writer and freelance journalist. They can be found on Instagram/X: @writerly_life.
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Salaam New York: Zohran Mamdani & a fusion of 3 cross-continental cultures
There has been a development in New York that challenges Donald Trump's America, where certain subjects – such as diversity, inclusion, immigrants, and Palestine – have become difficult to venture into. It is the primary victory of Zohran Kwame Mamdani in the mayoral election, one that makes him likely to become New York City's first Indian-American and first Muslim mayor if he wins against the Republican candidate in November. The 33-year-old Democratic candidate, who is a former Republican, was born to immigrant parents, supports Palestine, has a socialist agenda for New York, including free childcare and rent cap, feels strongly about climate change, wants to tax wealthy Big Apple residents, and increase corporate tax. His pro-Palestine slogan, 'Globalise the intifada (rebellion or uprising)', has his opponents gunning for him and the American media dissecting his politics, but he has stood his ground. In many ways, Mamdani symbolises multiculturalism, which stems from the family he comes from, the relationships he has forged, and the arts he has embraced. His mother, Mira Nair, is a well-recognised Indian-American filmmaker, many of whose movies have been critically acclaimed globally. Among them are Salaam Bombay!, Mississippi Masala, The Namesake, Queen of Katwe, Monsoon Wedding, in each of which she pushes boundaries, often turning the spotlight on the underdog, bringing the missable into focus: Whether it is about the struggles of first-generation immigrants (The Namesake), who are caught between two cultures, and their children, who believe they belong to their parents' adopted country but don't quite; or, about the precarious lives of children in the slums of the financial powerhouse now called Mumbai (Salaam Bombay!), where the actors are the street children themselves; or about the travails of a 10-year-old chess prodigy born in a disadvantaged part of Uganda (Queen of Katwe). There is a story behind the name 'Nair', which appears to indicate that Mamdani's mother has roots in Kerala. She is, however, a Punjabi, and her father was in the Indian Administrative Service and mother a social worker. The family name, Nayyar, was changed to 'Nair' by her grandfather for reasons unclear. There is also a story behind Mamdani's middle name, 'Kwame'. It was given to him by his Indian-Ugandan father, Mahmood Mamdani, in honour of the first President of Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah, whom the BBC described as a 'Hero of Independence' and an 'international symbol of freedom as the leader of the first black African country to shake off the chains of colonial rule'. An academic, Mamdani Senior, whose specialisation includes colonialism and post-colonialism, was born in pre-Independence Bombay to Gujarati Shia Muslim parents, who later migrated to Kampala, Uganda. He would, after coming to study in the United States in the '60s, participate in the civil rights movement, and would also be jailed. It wouldn't be amiss to say that a lot of Zohran Mamdani's politics has been shaped by his parents'. In 2013, for instance, Mira Nair had turned down an invitation to the Haifa International Film Festival in Israel as a guest of honour. On what was then called Twitter, and is now X, she posted: 'I will go to Israel when the walls come down. I will go to Israel when occupation is gone... I stand w/ Palestine for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel…' The mayor probable's parents, incidentally, met in Uganda while Nair was researching for Mississippi Masala, and that's where he was born in 1991 – coincidentally, the year the film was released. The couple immigrated to the US when he was seven. Earlier this year, Zohran Mamdani married Syrian-American artist Rama Duwaji, whose work, besides exploring migration, heritage, community and identity, also draws to pro-Palestinian themes. The arts have been Mamdani's constant companion – not just because of his filmmaker mother and artist wife. He is a former rapper. Nine years ago, he released an EP, titled 'Sidda Mukyaalo' (Luganda for 'No going back to the village'), along with Ugandan rapper HAB. And in 2019 came a single, titled 'Nani' – a tribute to his maternal grandmother, Praveen Nair, rich with cultural references to India. It featured the multifaceted actor and cookbook author Madhur Jaffrey as a revolutionary 'nani'. This video can be found on the YouTube channel called 'Mr Cardamom', a moniker Mamdani gave himself. It's a clever sobriquet, given that he is a lawmaker from Queens, and cardamom is recognised as the 'queen of spices'. It is a versatile spice, one that works both in sweet and savoury preparations, and while it is never the core ingredient, it always makes its presence known. Mamdani has also made the world sit up and take note. In 2019, when he first ran for office (New York State Assembly), he redirected his followers from 'Mr Cardamom' to his official handle on X with this message: 'You know I'll be forever spicy but I'm taking a break from being a spice to answer the question of what happens when a B-list rapper runs for office….'. His official handle now has something like 376,000 followers, whereas Mr Cardamom is at 380. Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump has gone after Mamdani through his social media platform, Truth Social, branding him a '100 per cent communist lunatic' and saying that 'the Democrats have crossed the line'. The rapper-turned-politician, however, is staying the course. In November, if he is elected New York City's mayor, one of the things he'll be doing is to oversee the largest municipal Budget in the US.
The Hindu
2 days ago
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NYC Mayor nominee Zohran Mamdani persuaded mother Mira Nair to turn down ‘Harry Potter', cast Kal Penn in ‘The Namesake'
Zohran Mamdani, the Indian-origin democratic socialist set to become the Democratic candidate for New York City Mayor, has influenced the world of cinema in ways you wouldn't expect. Mamdani, the son of acclaimed Indian filmmaker Mira Nair, has played a key role in his mother's career, having even persuaded her to turn down an opportunity to direct a Harry Potter film. At the 2018 Jaipur Literature Festival, Nair revealed that Warner Bros. had approached her to direct Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix after seeing her 2004's Vanity Fair. Mira, at that time, was set to helm The Namesake, the film adaptation of Jhumpa Lahiri's bestseller of the same name. The project was personal to Mira, as she had just lost her mother-in-law to malpractice in a New York hospital. 'I was deep in that melancholy. That's what inspired me to make The Namesake, because Jhumpa had written in it of this terrible melancholy of losing a parent in a foreign country, which is exactly what I was experiencing,' Variety quoted Nair. However, turning down a Harry Potter film wasn't easy; after all, her son, Mamdani, had learned to read from the 'Harry Potter' books. So she turned to him for guidance. 'He said to me, 'Mama, many good directors can make Harry Potter, but only you can make The Namesake.' Mamdani's role in the making of The Namesake didn't end there. Fascinatingly, Nair has also stated that it was her son who convinced her to cast Kal Penn in the film. 'I was chasing movie stars for Gogol's role. And he (Mamdani) said, 'Mama, you have to watch Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle.' I looked at the poster and thought 'how can I like this goofy guy?'' But she watched it — because Mamdani said so — and took a liking to Penn's performance in the stoner comedy. 'I then asked to see him (Penn), and then he got the part because he was the genuine article. Because he was raised in the country, and he was exactly in that sense, Gogol.' And that is how Penn, an actor who was only doing comedy roles, landed a dramatic, serious role in The Namesake. 'Zohran constantly gives me such advice. I always definitely hear him when we talk about the story I'm making, or who I'm thinking of, or who's good, or who's not,' added Nair. Notably, according to Variety, Mamdani has also worked as a third assistant director and music supervisor in Nair's Queen of Katwe. He's also been credited for playing Bookie Student in the 2016 film, apart from performing a rap song titled '#1 Spice,' under the moniker Young Cardamom, for the film's soundtrack.
