Chippa Sudhakar, Laxma Goud and Fawad Tamkanat appeal to set up Lalit Kala Academy in Hyderabad
Chippa Sudhakar, Laxma Goud and Fawad Tamkanat
Senior artist Chippa Sudhakar threw open his picturesque studio in Kismathpur to young artists and students to study the art of printmaking. It took him a year to get the Lalit Kala Academy, Chennai, on-board to realise a vision conceptualised to help the younger generation learn a dying art.As much as we all appreciate the artist for taking up an individual initiative such as this, there is one major problem — lack of institutional support that this community needs a Lalit Kala Academy right here in Hyderabad.
Senior artist Laxma Goud, who has been pushing for an academy in the city, has sent a letter to the government on the need for one. He says, “When the fight for Telangana depended so much on the cultural identity and when that identity was what the movement romanticised so much, then an academy is not too much to ask for.”
Hyderabad housed an academy until the Potti Sreeramulu Telugu University was set up by Dr N.T. Rama Rao. Goud says, “Today, the university is in shambles.” “We, as artists, are not asking for any support, individually. But it is imperative that we develop an infrastructure for the overall development, most importantly for the younger generation. Talent should remain unhindered by bureaucracy and corruption so that a new inculcating spirit is born,” he adds.
In fact, Goud, the master of printmaking in Hyderabad, managed to revive the tradition of printmaking only after his return from Baroda because he had the academy backing him.
Meanwhile, Fawad Tamkanat explains, “The dying art of printmaking, ironically, still has good amount of interest not only in India, but abroad too. So, youngsters learning the technique can apply for fellowships in Europe and America. Imagine the possibilities that we could bring to our youngsters with these programmes and initiatives, streamlined by the academy.”
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