India was
introduced to the modern techniques of printmaking in 1556 when the first printing press was
established in St Paul’s College in Goa, a Portuguese colony then.From then
until our contemporary times, there have been waves of changes and influences
that have shaped the way printmaking is looked at now.
An ongoing printmaking workshop and residency at Studio 365 Goa
Velha aims at encouraging experimental art making practices and facilitating
research on the constant overlapping of different cultures and influences – on
people, places, material and immaterial heritage. The participating artists are
Dimple B Shah (Bangalore), Ryan Francis Abreu (Goa), Seema Kohli (Delhi), Medha
Prabhakar (Mumbai), Saurganga Darshandhari (Khatmandu), Vijay Bhandare (Goa)
and Sham Sunder (Bangalore).
The Studio began as a private art space belonging to Seema
Kohli, and has hosted more than three residencies bringing artists of varied
expertise (and nationality) together in the informal settings. It is an
unconventional space where exchange and sharing are at the crux, with an
element of local collaboration and participation. The studio also supports
environmental friendly practices.
Printmaking requires mechanical processes to a certain extent;
it is a social medium often driven by community practice and collaboration.
This community feeling is crucial in the production of art, and Studio 365 is
focused on creating communities through art.
Titled
‘Precip’, the program gets its name from the word ‘precipitate’. The concept
for the print residency plays with and explores the word’s taxonomy and its
meanings, making tangents at the physical and conceptual level while allowing
participants to combine and create their own stories from it. States Lina
Vincent, curatorial associate of Precip, “The Residency grouping will look at
translating and devising new trajectories from Precip – to define mythologies
surrounding our everyday and our contemporary status, while also harking back
to the truths of life and death of the universe, and the ever essential water
resource. “ The Printmaking residency carries on the idea that Artists Create
Together (ACT) and that art can be the interface for dialogue, communication
and social change. The residency, which concludes on August 16, 2018, welcomes
visitor interaction and will host a series of informal presentations by the
participating artists, as well as a special program on August 15. Gopika Nath,
a textile artist-craftsman who embroiders and writes, threading her syllables
into poetry, creative non-fiction and art reviews, will conduct a talk, titled,
Unravelling The Threads – A Journey Into the Self’ on August 15, from 3:30pm to
4:30pm. A Fulbright Scholar, alumnus of Central St Martins School of Art and
Design (UK), Gopika has left the chaos of Gurgaon to live and work in Goa.
