Her ‘Journeys’ whisk you away to the buzzing commute hubs dotting the globe: from the throbbing Bahnhof in Zurich to the teeming railway stations in Mumbai. The cluster of pulsating points of departure make a surreal emergence in her virtual exhibition. Mumbai- based artist and philanthropist Akshita Gandhi decodes the hidden inspiration between layers of paint in her riveting artworks.
Each of Akshita’s creations comes complete with complexities, contradictions, and layered learnings, with movement being the leitmotif. “When we think of home, we tend to think of a place of birth, or any destination that is static. I was searching for a place where I belong. I spent so much time around trams, trains, planes, constantly arriving and departing, in a new place every other month, in an incessant search, running away, hungry for a revelation…that I was moving constantly, and hence was naturally drawn to and inspired by movement,” explains Akshita.
Her exhibition, ‘Journeys’, is about finding one’s own self, amalgamated with concepts of reality, myth and emotion. “My existential metamorphosis that began in early 2018 made me realise that my home has always been inside me all along. It took me 11 trips around the world, showcasing and creating art, to realise that in reality, I have belonged to myself and will go back to dust: that is when concepts of mythology began to creep up and shape the silhouette of this series and my personal growth,” shares Akshita.
Mixed media interplay
It is a fascinating interplay of mixed media with geometrics. “The golden ratio and Vitruvian man left a great impact on me, and I understood the importance of proportion. Experimenting with different mediums has certainly broadened my horizons,” says Akshita. Though when she started out, monochromes formed the central grid in her works.
“I used to find it cumbersome to include colour in my art. Even the photographs were sepia. However, when I got into colour therapy, I fell in love with hues and their endless healing properties. Today, colours evoke feelings within me, and before creating, I allow my emotions to guide my choice in the palette. Bright splashes that wash up on the arid dry canvas — it is almost like bringing it to life!” she muses.
Her personal artistic style stands inspired by Islamic architecture, and it has taken her 15 years to finally be able to use it on the photographs clicked during her travels. “Along with collage, layering, paint and markers, it was such a beautiful release to use the intricacy and delicate strokes I’ve been working on for over a decade,” enthuses Akshita. Sealed within is a sense of magic, amidst the hustle-bustle and chaos.
“As if seeing the world through the lens of someone who is trying to discover herself by arriving and departing again and again, with strangers who became friends, with museums that felt like homes, and the quaint lanes that inspired this series,” she says. A dreamy, surreal state where “the pieces oscillate between reality and fantasy, similar to what that time personally signified for me.”
A time of chaos
“‘Painfully Concealed Silence’ is one such artwork. I started creating it in early 2017 and left it in my studio, where an air conditioner leakage left my piece drenched and altered. Early 2018, I picked it up to re-work. When I returned from Dubai from an exhibition, I began working on it every day until June.”
“In a way, this work is suggestive of a personal metamorphosis, my own struggle, and finally coming into myself as a whole. It was also a time of chaos around the world and that’s when I started working with those rescued from human trafficking. They were all silenced, around 10 million women and children refugees suffered, and were displaced because of their war-stricken countries. This particular artwork is a photograph of the ‘Horn okay please’ plastered on a poster put up over a slum near Bhendi Bazaar, in Mumbai. The symbol reminded me of a “silence” that’s painfully concealed in agony.”
“Most of the women I worked with were survivors of great atrocities, yet in 2017, some of them decided to get married and start a new life. This inspired the sun rays around the “horn ok please” symbol, indicating hope and a new beginning. The message of this work was aimed at spreading awareness about the issue of human trafficking and bringing forth the plight of the suffering refugees. Silenced, but still alive and expressing. This piece also got me nominated as the Global Artist of the Year in Dubai, 2018. Over 2,000 works were in contention; this was one of the 20 selected to be exhibited at the award ceremony,” she says with a smile.