The annual Indian Art Fair had a fair share of very forgettable moments and rare memorable works.
The majority of works that compelled thought were outside the fair per se, spread out over the many collateral events organised by galleries and impresarios.
One such show was Narratives of the Selfat Gallery Espace, which showcased a collection of personal histories revealed through selected sketch books of artists.
The non formal format of these allows one to glimpse into the thoughts, memories and imagination of the artists that went into the creation of their artistic persona.
Being very personal documents they follow different narrative trajectories, from linear to abstract, from direct to obscure, imbued with form and colour to minimalist.
These visual narratives facilitate the surfacing of certain moments, emotions and representations that may have once been suppressed, concealed, disguised, of just plain buried in the subconscious. It could be a childhood memory, a grandmother’s tale, or an object.
In Manisha Gera Baswani’s case it is a scrunchy or a hair accessory that reveals her journey in Unbraiding.
Strands of hair flow through the longitudinal work, freed from the restraint of an old rubber band, like life freed from the confinement of preconceived, negative social and psychological controls, allowing experiences and images to touch the soul via positivia.
Madhvi Parekh reveals the articulation of her artistic and personal self in Five Icons of my Life. The folk style is derived from her rural roots in Gujarat and her experiences of village rituals and belief systems while the varied motifs and diverse iconography such as of Jesus Christ reveal the accumulation of influences as an artist.
Childhood recollections surface in the narrative sketches by Nilima Shaikh, in form of baths and visitors that left an impression on the artist, evoking personal and collective memories.
— Dr Seema Bawa is an art historian, curator and critic
