The home now became the primary space of occupancy, out of which people both lived and worked. This created new equations, anxieties and tensions within the domestic space, as people packed in like sardines. The brunt of this was borne by women, who’s traditional role as homemaker emerged as doubly challenging. Even as the lives of children, office-goers, and the elderly became increasingly dysfunctional in the pandemic, women performed with enhanced efficiency, keeping home and hearth together through a time that is both endless and trying.
The work features a contemporary interpretation of Francisco Goya’s ‘Saturn Devouring His Son’. It revolves around the socio-political realm of the pandemicravaged environment, where the ‘mom’ denotes an icon of oppression, struggling for fundamentals. In further interpretations, the ‘mom’ can represent nature engulfing her own offspring. It can also be viewed in terms of class-conflicts, with subtle underlayers of morbid satire.
Aranya Sengupta, ‘Mom Devouring her Embryo’, woodcut, 12” x 12”
The series of portraits are a window into my experiences as a woman and a person in this milieu. A self-reflection of sorts perhaps, as we cannot lie to ourselves, even though we may try to hide ourselves and our truths from the world.This series of self portraits looks out of the frame directly at the viewer, meeting their gaze in an almost confrontational manner, nudging them into a dialogue with the image.These traumatic memories often manifest themselves in the images I create as cactii, as a typical death-in-life archetypal form.
Bhagyashri C Dange, ‘Isolation from Within’, woodcut, 12” x 12”
My work mostly talks about the feeling of being confined in a space, both mentally and physically, with no escape from the situation. It’s already more than a year since we have been restricted to a place, waiting for the pandemic to pass and a sense of normalcy to resume. And with every day that passes, our wait seems unending. My work depicts this situation of being together without any choice.
Kartika Bagodi, ‘Confined’, linocut, 12” x 12”
The Covid-19 pandemic has forced us into “lockdowns”, a new word that has been added to our vocabulary. We are now confined to our homes, packed in like fish in a frying pan, with the domestic space becoming both the live-and-work space.
Priyanka Batra, ‘Dark Night’, linocut, 15” x 12”
I draw inspiration from my home and kitchen for my art. During the pandemic year, it was no different. The pakkad (kitchen tongs) became a personification for my wish to get a hold on the virus and put an end to the pandemic. Using the linocut medium allowed me to enhance the idea and visually depict the chaos that persists.
Heena Pari, ‘Pakkad’, woodcut, 12” x 15”
My work is related to the circumstances and situation I find myself in. This pandemic has had a devastating effect on almost everyone I know. Personally, it has changed my perspective of life. I can no longer think of the future, immediate or long-term, as before. The anxiety is overwhelming and unending. This work is a metaphoric representation. Ultimately, we are mute spectators and at the mercy of situations we cannot control.
Jayati Mukherjee, ‘1st wave, 2nd wave….3rd wave?’, woodcut, 15” x 12”
This woodcut work is about the silent anguish, agony, and misery that we experienced and encountered during the period, and the woodcut. It is about unregistered deaths and unclaimed bodies. The deep thought towards the lost soul was a silent protest to make every death count. I stand tied up cut tree branches on my head holding doll wrapped in hand and bodies on flour metaphorically representing several unclaimed bodies. The branches have been lit into fire and I stand still in protest mode in the image. This work is to bring unsettled state of mind and loss of the people.
Dimple B Shah, ‘Silence of the fury’, woodcut, 15” x 12”
I live in Kolkata, and thus my works are based on my surroundings and my city. Usually when I looked outside my window, I could observe a lot of things – my neighbourhood, my objects and my city. This journey is the inspiration behind my works, so I tried to create my own vision through my own language. In this pandemic, we are all stuck in our homes for the last two years. The only place where we are not stuck is in our dreams and in our breathing. Apart from this, each and every thing is stuck inside four walls. Through my work I tried to represent the unfolding of my dreams. I am trying to manage my long hair … I may fail, but I must try, because I am fighting for hope.
Sreyashi Saha, ‘Unfolding my Dreams’, woodcut, 12” x 15”
In the arena of Visual Arts, the printmaking medium is really unique in that artists can express themselves using several techniques in their own idiosyncratic ways. My work titled ‘The Scream’ Again’ is done in the woodcut medium. Every stroke or mark on the wood seems to me like a deep scar. The ubiquitous troubled time of these present dark days reminds me of the traumatized face in the Expressionist Artist Edvard Munch’s painting ‘The Scream’. The scream in my work is an outburst of intense agonizing pain. Here the scream is reverberating only within four walls, as people have to be confined and isolated in their abode only, for fear of the dreadful disease.
Moumita Paul, ‘The Scream again’, woodcut, 12” x 15”
Today, people are in dire straits due to the economic crisis and the reversal of life. Poverty is all around, like a knife to the throat. Unable to overcome the limits of compassion, people are choosing the path of suicide. It is as if the ropes are coming forward day after day to surround people and human lives. Throwing them in the ropes, they seemed to be overjoyed. Despite all the darkness and nightmares, people dream. Hoping to live anew. He wants to see light even with the last energy of the body. The hand in my work is directing her. Amid the darkness, there is a light, a hand that has touched the rope. But the hand still could not swallow the rope.
Susmita Barua, ‘Trying to…..’, woodcut, 15” x 12”
The visuals of migrant labor walking hundreds of kilometers home in March – April 2020 is an indelible memory of the pandemic. In my work, the chappal is symbolic. The stitches inside the chappal an S.O.S (Morse code of three dots, three dashes and three dots: a call for help). The hands represent those who reached out and helped. I chose the linocut method for this work as the emotions associated are raw and coarse.
Shanthi Kasiviswanathan, ‘S.O.S’, woodcut, 12” x 15”
LIVING A DARK NIGHT 