Moment:
October 2nd, 2019 at 1:38 PM IST
"Babies are like abstract art - everyone sees the features they want to see because they want the kid to look like them."
Art is literally everywhere in India, and Hyderabad is a great city to explore the rich arts culture of India, because it celebrates artistic expression of all people in both formal and informal contexts. You can spend hours walking around and getting lost in the art at the Telangana State Gallery of Art, Salar Jung Museum, or the arts-and-crafts village known as Shilparamam to simply revel in the talent that these artists have been gifted with.
We went to the Art Gallery to attend my cousin Richie's senior photography school showcase, where his photo was displayed in an exhibit and even featured in the newspaper! He and his classmates collaborated to capture many unique aspects of the Indian experience, including the fashion, national monuments, and natural beauty of this country, and it was truly a sight to behold.
A few weeks later, we returned to the gallery to look at a National Geographic photo showcase that had a bit of a wider scope, and displayed the work of photographers all around the world. There were exhibits focused on Bengali fashion, endangered species, and old pianos in run-down European palaces, among others. Because we went on a Tuesday afternoon, we basically had the place to ourselves and could really take our time exploring the halls (and also maybe running around barefoot and having a spontaneous Bhangra lesson).
The art is not contained just within the walls, however, because there are sculptures made from scrap metal scattered across the entire grounds of the gallery. These sculptures were part of a movement by art students from local universities in Hyderabad to both beautify their city and bring awareness to the increasing waste our society is generating that could be reused or recycled instead.
These sculptures are just one example of how you don't have to just go to a formal gallery to be surrounded by art. Throughout the city, there are murals and street painting at every turn. Every support pillar of a bridge, every wall of a tunnel, and every face of a building is turned into a beautiful mural or portrait of an important figure in Indian history. I have so many pictures of the amazing paintings I encounter that I have a whole separate album on my phone to corral them all.
It's even cooler to actually watch the art actually come to life. In Agra, we had the opportunity to watch an 8th-generation jeweler work on weaving a jeweled carpet. At one of the schools I visited, a painter sponsored by a local company came and adorned the once-blank walls with huge paintings of India and the world. Outside of a newly-constructed restaurant, I just sat and watched for a while, mesmerized as a group of artists climbed wooden scaffolding to shape massive flowers and designs in wet concrete.
The Indian government is a huge financial supporter of these local artists and the preservation of their unique art forms, and the rest of the world is starting to recognize that India has a lot to contribute to the art world, and this past Monday, Google established a project on the Google Arts and Culture app to showcase the handcrafts and artwork of India to the rest of the world. According to the description, "Through over 280 online exhibitions, more than 11,000 videos and pictures, "Crafted in India" also aims to celebrate the stories of artisan communities." 10/10 would recommend checking it out when you get the chance :)
They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and in my time in India thus far, the pictures all around me convey more words than I could count. I have learned more about this country through paintings, photographs, and artisan crafts, as well as the artists who made them, than I could ever learn just reading about India.
