Until last month, I felt time was just rushing by. In December 2019, I recall telling a friend, “New Year’s already! Where did the year go?” And now, in these times of self isolation and lockdown, amidst all the fear and inconvenience and unease, we are wondering how to pass the time of day, waiting for time to speed up instead of slow down.
The few weeks of mandated isolation seem to stand apart
in the way they have altered our perception of time, where the days just seem
to crawl by. As one of the memes in current circulation says, “If you
can’t go outside go inside.” Art has always stood the test of time, with people
wanting to articulate their stories and express their response to their
individual lives as well as the state of the world they live in. In these
trying times, isolation can boost a deeper engagement with one’s art, giving
one the luxury of time to go within in a more meaningful way without the usual
distractions of ‘normal life’.
“Lockdown is solitude and I see a difference between the
silence in the air then and now, for now I only hear my thoughts, and I am
trying to find myself. To feel like I have a sense of control during lockdown,
I am trying to find myself. With more space to create I am finding time to
reflect,” says senior artist Querozito De Souza.
Textile artist Liesl Cotta De Souza concurs, “I look
forward to every morning and day or night of the lockdown for the fresh air and
the chirping of the birds that we were missing in a hurry to live a life.”
This period of introspection really allows one to delve
into deeper realms. Of his experience of lockdown, senior artist Francis De
Souza says, “I am painting like never before, escaping into my own world where
for a brief few hours I am aeons away from any virus.”
For Professor Hanuman Kambli, senior artist and mentor
to innumerable students at the Goa College of Art, “Yes, it is lockdown as
usual. I do like to lock down myself for creative pursuit.”
Superbly skilled etching artist and painter Shripad
Gurav is using this time on his hands to reset his studio, painting the
interiors himself. “I’m also painting my house while sketching and doing pen
and ink drawings in between.”
Painter and muralist Vijay Bhandare is keeping busy too,
“As an artist, lockdown doesn’t make much of a difference, I always confine
myself within the four walls of my studio, alienating myself from the outer
world to paint.
“I am doing woodcut blocks as well as pen and ink
drawings and mixed media drawings and paintings. Mostly on the agony Goans are
going through in these horrid times. Of course, the other social side of me is
affected a bit, since I cannot venture out. I miss my daily evening strolls and
the balcao banter.”
Well regarded artist Shilpa Naik, a member of the Goa
Artists Collective, feels, “Lockdown has only stopped me from going out and
meeting friends and relatives. Usually I am mostly at home, so busy with
my daily routine of working on paintings and with household chores.” Her
husband, well known artist and founder member of the GAC Pradeep
Naik, says, “Besides painting and sculpture I am engaged in designing
spaces and that process is keeping me busy. For the last two years I was
planning to take out time for myself and to spend time alone with nature
without any phone calls for work. I am worried with all that is happening
around the world, but enjoying the beautiful time I have got during this
lockdown. I’m staying in my Mandrem house which is surrounded by trees and
fields, no people on the road, no sound of any vehicles. The quiet and empty
fields are so beautiful that I have started working on a new series of
landscape paintings. There is no pre-thinking in my mind; I am just expressing
the beautiful feelings through colours.”
While younger artist Kausalya Gadekar is mostly reading
these days, her artist husband Ramdas Gadekar is exploring new materials. He
says, “Since I cannot visit the Carpe Diem Ceramic studio because of the
lockdown, I have been working at home and I tried my hand with cement as an
alternative medium to ceramic. I spend most of my time sketching and doing
research on ceramics, making notes. The lockdown is really giving me enough
time to experiment and think of some fresh ideas.”
Goan artist, designer and muralist Hitesh Pankar is
shocked at the suddenness with which the world has found itself in crisis. Yet
his philosophy remains, “I always think everything is possible, we should
always think positive. If we think negative we take one step back.
“I feel my contribution is also necessary, through
social media I can paint and express my feelings through art. My new painting
is titled ‘The World Needs Peace’. Every human life is important,
let us unite and make earth beautiful. I clean my space, meditate and spend my
time painting, cooking, gardening, editing my personal photos, calling and
noting down what my friends need so that I can arrange supplies for them in my
own way; and I'm trying to stay inside so that we can save other lives
too.”
The practicalities of survival rule but creative
inspiration is also alive and well. Figurative artist Norman Tagore talks about
his daily routine, “I go out for shopping once or twice a day. I cook for me,
my neighbour and a girl who lives with me. I paint every day in a style that
doesn’t require me to work with live models. Today I plan to sow some seeds in
the garden because I fear that the lockdown may get extended. I’m running out
of fruit and vegetables, but we have everything else.”
Performance artist Bhisaji Gadekar is using the time to
bond with family as he continues to work with pottery, sculpture, drawing and
on conceptualising new ideas.
Art faculty and well known artist Chaitali Morajkar
explains her life as an artist during these dire times, “I have started a
canvas. When the lockdown period was announced, I actually thought I would get
a lot of time but the work is progressing slowly. I am using this period more
to connect with children. I am working but frankly there is a kind of
insecurity in the air, we are not able to focus fully. Everyone is praying for
this time to pass. And as a woman dealing with balancing the time and extra
work this lockdown has put on us.
“It is not like time is not there but the mind is not
completely clear or pure. Somewhere at the back of our minds we are thinking
about this whole situation, caring about our loved ones, and frankly worrying.
I prefer to spend more time with our daughters.”
Yet, to stay afloat and use her wealth of experience as an art teacher, Chaitali has created a group of 100 children, where the kids share their work and can learn from each other. She sums up the experience beautifully, “The kids are posting their works to me and I am sending them further, so other children get inspired to work. I felt good that even sitting at home I was able to be a mediator for all these children. Art is the best relief.”
“A major scarcity of food is being felt across our
country of 1.3 billion during this Coronavirus outbreak. The most affected
are the poor migrant workers…thousands of them seen fleeing from the city for
their home towns since the decision of a complete lockdown by the Indian
government offered no secure place for them to live and they leave empty handed
and hungry.
I am working on a series of ‘Scarcity of
Food’, where I symbolically paint the absence of food items that are
most essential in our daily lives.”
– Soumitrimayee
Paital
ng an artist, I found the situation tense as most people face great difficulty during lockdown. I’ve uploaded a post on social media requesting followers to share a picture of themselves in their house and a brief text on how they are using this quarantine period and how they feel being locked at home.
I feel this initiative of mine drawing one ‘Lonely
Resident’ daily will give us some sort of realisation, ‘to invent things
everyday’ or to get a feeling that ‘the house is a geat sea to explore’. I also
feel that by giving importance to Lonely Residents in the form of art, people
will feel good and happy about it, and I hope that people can use this time to
try and reinvent themselves.
– Kedar Dhondhu, as he works on
his series ‘Lonely Residents’, drawings with graphite on paper. Drawings are
uploaded on his Instagram and FB pages every day. Later the series will be
worked with watercolour