When one thinks of an artist the first image that comes to your mind is of someone who creates works confined in the silence of their studio. But artist Prajakta Palav goes against that very idea. The Mumbai-based artist, who is in the city for her show IT Clots in fact creates work with people, especially children.
“I’ve always felt connected with people, especially children. I feel that kids’ minds are untouched by things and when you ask them for their opinion they give you honest and simple answers,” explains Prajakta.
And keeping up with her theme, Prajakta worked with 12 children from a school in the city. “My idea was to create art and take the feedback of the kids, but that didn’t happen. So we were part of a workshop and they later displayed the work from that show” says Prajakta, who displayed about nine paintings.
All about life: A painting by Prajakta
“The theme of my paintings is connected to living. In the paintings I have created scenes from an area where migrants have been living in Mumbai,” she explains.
Piu Das, who was the mentor for the students says, “The theme was home. Since most of the kids are residential students, the theme was very poignant. And the children created works on the subject.”
The idea was to find a connect with the students and their homes and for Ka, who is a student from Thailand it was quite a task. “I had to find something that reminded me of my home. At first it was difficult, but after a while I found that the ferns at the cafe reminded me of home and so I created that,” she says.
