Bhubaneswar: Six contemporary women painters who participated in a week-long exhibition Odyssey at Rashtriya Lalit Kala Akademi in Bhubaneswar rocked the canvas with their amazing works. Binodini Behera, Madhusmita Dhal Samant, Swarnalata Satpathy, Suprava Choudhury, Jayashree Pradhan and Sushmita Sahoo interacted with Orissa POST about their work and on Me Too campaign.
Madhusmita Dhal Samant said, “Well, I work on a tempara medium which is pasting a khadi silk on a hard board and powder colours are used. My work revolves around Radha Krishna. However, in place of Krishna I have depicted him as a peacock that wanders around Radha. Ten amazing paintings showcasing the story of Radha and her unbound love for Krishna have been exhibited. From the year 1996, I have been working towards enhancing mythological characters as well as the rustic beauty of villages on my canvas. I always wanted to exhibit traditional paintings; that’s why I selected the Ras of Lord Krishna and Radha for my work and I am the only one holding on to tempara work, which requires a lot of hard work and preparation on the part of an artist. I am a student of Baldev Maharatha who is the greatest tempera artist in Odisha till date. As far as the Me Too campaign is concerned, I truly support it as the time has come for women to speak about their needs, rights and position in society”.
Binodini Behera, who showcased the beauty and traditions of tribal life with acrylic on canvas said, “Nowadays the tribal jewelries are becoming a rare thing, so I decided to put them on my canvas as my clients also want to see more of them. I have exhibited 62 paintings as part of my work.”
Sushmita Sahoo, whose work is widely based on Pixel vision, works with water colours and paper. Her paintings fantastically depicted human life, and its surroundings.
However, the most stunning work that attracted much attention was that of Suprava Choudhury’s. She has travelled all the way from Himachal Pradesh. She said, “My three paintings showcased women and girl child safety in our country. The flag and the child face reflect the daughters of our country and the newspaper shows how these issues are in the news, but no major punishment is given to rapists, kidnappers and people who are sexually harassing our sisters, mothers and daughters. My paintings also support the Me Too campaign that is currently sweeping the country.
Swarna Lata Satpathy’s acrylic on canvas showed women’s freedom through events that makes her journey truly exciting.
Tunendra Patnaik, art critic and senior artist, said, “These paintings are truly dedicated to women’s cause and I am glad nowadays female artistes are coming forward to portray the female grievance through canvas in a big way”.
Manas Ranjan Jena, secretary, Lalit Kala Akademi, said, “The beauty of these paintings lies in its ethos. Each of the canvas is competing with international parameters and works of Leonora Carrington who was a surrealist artist and painter.
Uma Bisoi, an art buyer who was busy picking on paintings, said, “The most magical matter about the show is that it’s an overall tribute to women power and supports the Me Too campaign. I am very happy to buy some of the paintings for my home.”