Posts from the ‘Art’ Category

CA Rajasekar

In the first series of Jaggery lit’s spotlight on “Artist Profile”, we sat down to talk with CA Rajasekar, violinist and teacher. Below are the excerpts of our conversation.

Welcome Shri Rajasekar Sir to the first edition of Jaggery Lit’s spotlight on performing artists. We are so thankful for your time.

CARVA: Thank you so much for having me here. I think this is a wonderful effort by Jaggery lit to showcase performing artists under “Artist profile”

How did you get attracted to violin? Please tell us about your background and your initial training.

CARVA: I was born into a family of musicians and violinists. I am the fourth-generation violinist in my family. There has been an unbroken continuity in my family in learning this instrument. I was fortunate to be listening to classical Carnatic music and tunes from when I was in the womb. My father Shri. Chittoor Appanna Bhagavathar was a performing violinist. He along with his 3 brothers would practice and perform. There was hence a constant buzz of music at home. I would say I picked up the instrument rather naturally. However, my father initially taught me vocal music when I was about 3 years old.

So, was your father your first Guru or teacher?

CARVA: Yes, my father was my first teacher. As I said earlier, he taught me classical vocal. When I was about 7 years of age, he started to teach the basics of Carnatic classical music on the violin. He would later tell me that I was able to play the Geethams (small songs) with gamakams(musical accentuations given to a musical phrase or a single note, thus producing melodic tunes) as opposed to how a learner would initially learn. Songs are taught to learners as a plain musical note and the accentuations to make it more pleasing to hear like how a musician would sing the song are taught later. This is because the student has to get a hang of how to play the different notes first in the instrument. I later continued my learning from Sangita Kalanidhi Shri Dr. M. Chandrasekar. He helped me hone my skills more and I am ever grateful to him for letting me accompany him on stage on some of his performances.

Was it easy to have your father as a teacher? Was he strict?

CARVA: It was easy in the sense that I didn’t have to travel (laughs) for my classes. He was a teacher who also instilled the sense of discipline. He himself would spend hours practicing. He naturally expected it from all of his students. So as a beginner, I would have to practice at least 2 hours each day. I am thankful to him for setting me straight right in the beginning as the discipline really helped out.

Can you elaborate that a bit more please?

CARVA: Of course! The teaching continued and when I was a teenager, the interest kicked in even more. I would spend hours 6 – 8 hours practicing every day. Music got to me so much that after I finished my 10th grade in High School, I focused on my violin learning totally, that I did the reminder of my High School years by correspondence or home-schooling as you might want to call it.

Oh Wow! That must have been a hard decision for you.

CARVA: Well, I guess so for most people as the primary focus predominantly is on academics. But as far as I was concerned, I was very sure by then; that this is what I wanted to do. And I just went full throttle with it. By 16 years or so I started performing concerts as accompanying violinist. Between 17 – 22 years, I did a lot of travel worldwide being as part of dance group and being part of musical for various famous dancers.

That must have given you a lot of exposure while still being a young adult.

CARVA: Yes, it did. I was always interested in knowing to play Western Classical as well. I had a very curious mind to understand their script and their notation. While initially my father did not agree, he later saw my earnest seeking. I learnt Western Classical from Shri V. S. Narasimhan. He was one of the leading violinists for many famous music directors like Illayaraja and others.

And how did that go? Did you find any major differences?

CARVA: I would say that it helped me fix some techniques. Like I would say bowing for example. It really aided me in overall understanding of the instrument. I would say right now 91% of performing violinists in Classical Carnatic music these days have all undergone training in Western Classical as well. It is really easy for anyone to switch between the 2 classical forms if they have learnt one form very well.

That is amazing. So, tell us more about how CARVA Trust came to existence and also about your Violin Ensemble.

CARVA: Even though I was teaching violin for many years before as an independent teacher, I wanted to create an institute. However, with active concerts and performances throughout I did not have the time to make this more of a reality. In 2000, I created CARVA Trust (C A Rajashekar Violin Academy). I had about 50 students and they were are different levels(beginner/intermediate/advanced). An idea struck me, Why not create a violin ensemble with my students? It would be a great opportunity for the students to get on stage. Personally for me I thought that would be a motivation and encouragement for them. The audiences were enthralled to see a stage filled with violinists performing. Their response was more than encouraging. The auditorium was over flowing with people. Subsequently these continued for 14 years. My students from abroad would come and participate in these as well. I had about 150 students on stage performing the ensemble. It was just amazing.

But these days I am focused on continuing the 2 music festivals that my father had started.

Please tell us about them.

CARVA: Sure. We do a Sadhguru Sri Thyagaraja Swamigal’s Krithi Akhandam Ganam. Akhandam really means continuous, in this case it is continuous music for 24 hours. The songs are compositions of the great Saint. Thyagaraja. However, no song is repeated and there is no break in music either. The musicians render songs as a concert with accompanists. Many of the senior and top artists perform on that day. This is a great opportunity for many junior artists. It is like a cloud burst of music. A great day of music to music lovers.

The second festival is an offering or “Aradhana” to the great music saint Purandaradasa. Usually this is organized by January of every year.

Amazing! Music to all senses, what a great offering! What else is hidden in this artist (laughs)?

CARVA (laughs): Well, I did my “Isai Kalaimani” course from Adayar Music College in Chennai. I did finish BA from The Madras University. I also enrolled myself for MA in music at the University of Madras and was a Gold Medalist. I went on to complete M.Phil and my thesis was on “Teaching methodology and different types of teaching in Violin” where I was a rank holder. Now I teach many students worldwide. Technology has bought all of us closer, just like how this interview is now.

I offer Skype (for long distance students) and also teach at home to seeking students on a 1 on 1 basis.

That is fantastic! Technology has definitely made the world smaller indeed! It has been wonderful talking with you. Finally anything that would advise to students of music?

CARVA: Well, if you are a student of music and more specifically if you are interested in Classical Carnatic music. First and foremost, you need to find a good teacher or Guru. Do spend some time in searching for a good teacher, this usually pays off in the end since you would have a good foundation. Second attend classes regularly. Third; Practice, practice and practice. There is no substitute to this. Fourth, listen to music of great stalwarts and musicians. The more you listen, the more you can understand music. If all of the above 4 are done well with full commitment, it is extremely easy to become a good performing artist. There is no other short cut. I wish and bless all of the students of music. May you find your journey fulfilling!

Thank you so much Sir. It was a pleasure to talk with you. We at Jaggery Lit, wish you many more success and laurels.

Shri. C A Rajasekar is a leading violinist and teacher. He plays classical Carnatic music on the Violin and is based in Chennai, India. He is the founder of “CARVA Trust” (Chittoor Appana Rajasekar Violin Academy) in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.

Nalini Rau

In the first series of Jaggery Lit’s spotlight on “Artist Profile”, Srividya Ramamurthy sat down to talk with her. Below are the excerpts of our conversation.

Welcome Dr. Nalini Rau, to the first edition of Jaggery Lit’s spotlight on performing artists. We are so thankful for your time.

Dr. Rau: Thank you so much for having me here. I think this is a wonderful effort by Jaggery Lit to showcase performing artists in the portal.

How did you get drawn to dance? Please tell us about your early days and your initial training.

Dr. Rau: My mother said that I began dancing when I was 10 months old. My first teacher for Bharata Natyam was a beautiful young woman at elementary school. She taught the first few steps, but left when she got married, and the classes ended.

About this time, Guru Shri K. N. Dakshinamoorthy Pillai came to teach near my home in New Delhi. My mother enrolled me in his class. We were a large group of girls.

I remember that first class, Masterji came with Ms. Anne Marie Gaston and Sri Nagaraj. We did not realize at that point what a great lineage we were being introduced to: Guru K N Dakshinamoorthy Pillai, the great nattuvunar, teacher, choreographer and percussionist and the keeper of the Dandayudapani Pillai Bani tradition. He hailed from a family of nattuvunars, dancers and musicians. He was a highly trained percussionist. He had such a rich knowledge and tradition. Masterji, as we called him, was young and vibrant. I was lucky to have him. A great deal of the sound I strain to get from my own nattuvangam comes from listening to his nattuvangam. He was a strict teacher and I was an eager student, soaking in all that I could.

I also learnt for two years from Mrs. Sundari Seshadri: my Guru had left us, upset, that we were not moving onto an arangetram. My mother says that he told my parents that they had a diamond which they had locked in a safe instead of showing the world.

At that time, I had just begun college. I had no teacher and felt lost. Dance was my anchor and I felt adrift. Mrs. Seshadri asked me to come to her class. She also asked me to be part of her troupe. I waited another three years for my teacher to return, began training under Mr. Srinivasan in India Tidings as a trainee journalist and Art critic. At about this time, I again met Mrs. Seshadri at a recital and joined Mrs. Seshadri’s troupe. We were three dancers: Shashikala, Shoba and me. We gave a large number of recitals in Finland and a few in New Delhi. Couple of years later, she left for Bombay, with her beautiful daughter Shashikala moving on to become the actress Meenakshi Seshadri. Masterji, coincidently, returned at that time, and began to teach me again. It was an intense four years. This time around, we were able to go ahead and have the arangetram! It was an intense experience, with the orchestra coming home every day for several weeks.

Much later, after I got married and had my first child, I trained with the Guru couple USK Rao and Chandrabhaga Devi. This came about because I found on my visit to India in the year 1994, that I could not go to Delhi and spend extensive time with Guru KND: both me in laws and parents were in Bangalore and did not want me to go away for an extended period. I wanted to use the time to learn and grow, rather than indulge in a round of shopping and touring. I called Masterji and asked his permission to learn from another teacher while I was in Bangalore. With his permission, I went for a two-hour class every day to Guru USK. They too were affectionate and generous with sharing their knowledge. I then spent a week in Delhi relearning from Masterji and recording music with my Guru. Years earlier, I had met Masterji when I was injured and could not dance. Now, he was overjoyed. I was not dancing my best yet, but he saw me through the eyes of a loving teacher. Masterji later fell ill. I could not visit Delhi again for over a decade. I had given birth to twins, and travel and child care was now a whole new issue. I spent several long summers learning from Guru U.S. Krishna Rao and Guru Chandrabhaga Dev, with my parents taking care of the three children. It involved two hours of travel time, two hours of class time, and a few hours practicing and going prepared for the class. They were from the lineage of Shri. Meenakshisundaram Pillai. I have been blessed with teachers who have been loving and generous with their time and knowledge.

That is amazing to hear about all these great teachers and about your lineage in dance. Please do tell us about your hours of practice.

Dr. Rau: I loved dance with a passion, and it came naturally to me. As a result, I went to most classes prepared. It was not work for me but play. I danced most of the time, either to music I had heard or to beats my teacher had introduced. I used to practice in my head when I was going to school or college. I remember, the first time I learnt ‘dit dit tai’, I was so enamored with the adavu/step that I danced it all the way home from the class to my house on the road. Soon our big group of dance students became smaller and smaller. At one point there were just two students, my friend Sudha Madhavan and me. Soon my teacher started teaching just me. He would come home at 5 AM and teach me till 730 AM. I would run for my Delhi University special bus, still sweating from the practice, with my breakfast toast in hand. I went to the group class in the evening couple of times a week at this time as I used to teach the younger students. After their class, Masterji would teach me. It was again an intense period of juggling graduate school work, internship in India Tidings and dance class/practice. Time appears to be elastic, as transportation to the university alone was an hour each way.

Rhythm was part of you (smiles). How did the transition happen to a performer and as a teacher?

Dr. Rau (smiles): I started teaching first as an assistant, taking adavu and beginner classes for my Guru. I used to teach while we were waiting for him to come to class.

When I came to the US for my graduate studies, I performed at the international events and community events in the campus. I was asked to teach by some who had watched me perform.

When I came back to New York, I began teaching my five-year-old daughter. One of my neighbors, Mrs. Suma Parkadavil,asked me to teach her daughters too. Soon, by word of mouth, students started knocking at the door. And they have been doing so ever since. I sat down and seriously thought about how I would like to teach and worked out a course outline. So, I introduced story-telling, rhymes, play acting and games. I wanted the girls to have fun while they were learning.

I performed from the time I was four years old till I was 29, when I had an injury: I fractured my back. Once I recovered, I began to learn again and then perform and continue to perform to this day. Performing, teaching, learning has happened hand in hand. I realize more than ever how much there is still to learn: Bharata Natyam is an ocean bringing together so many streams of knowledge. I am not sure if one lifetime is enough to plumb its depths.

I must add that some of my own growth has happened in interaction with the artists of our orchestra, and interaction with several dancers it has been my privilege to know. I owe a great deal to my parents too.

And that’s how the dance school “Natya Anubhava Dance Academy” was born? Which year was that and how many students have you trained? Please do tell us a bit about the arangetrams and performances.

Dr. Rau: Yes, the school began in the summer of 1993. We just had our 25th anniversary. I have trained over 150 students. About thirty students have completed their arangetrams. I do not insist that a student must perform an arangetram. I also give the family several options to choose from to suit their budget. Once they choose a live orchestra, some costs become inevitable. I have worked hard at letting the parents decide how much they spend. A student must go on stage only when s/he is able to perform at her very best. The journey is as important as the goal.

As for performances, I have performed as a dancer and as a nattuvunar in various venues: the Lincoln center, Madras Winter festival, the UN, ArtsWestchester, Paramount Theater,Finlandia Talo, New York City Hall, AKKA, Music Hall,World’s religious conference in Queens NY,museums and schools, universities including Jewish Museum, Pelham Art Center, Hammonds, Krannert, Bryn Mawr, University of Illinois.

What are some of your dance productions?

Dr. Rau: Devi Saraswathi, Naukacharitramu, Nari,Jivan, Dasha avatara,Krishna, Govinda Kathe, Sittaya, Agraani, I presented some of my poetry through dance.

I have also collaborated with other artists of other genres as in the project Her Stories (Curator Bibiana Huang Matheis) at Arts Westchester and Akin Museum.

Arts Westchester of New York, while celebrating their 50 years and honoring 50 artists, awarded you an honor. You were chosen for your Choreography. Congratulations again on that! Can you tell us a bit about your influences on your choreography and about how these above productions came to life?

Dr.Rau: My dance ballets and productions are influenced by contemporary issues and things which touch my heart: such as gender and equality issues, corruption, war, strength of women. Naari was based on strength of women. Sitayana retold the story of Sita as a powerful strong person. Agraani told the story of women trail blazers. We showcased how women have overcome real struggles and helped themselves along with helping the community. Govina Kathe was based on respect for universal values. Jivan dealt with the flow of life, and how it is possible to transform oneself and grow. I created and performed a dance on my great great great great grandmother who fought her way out of the rubbles of a fallen Vijayanagara empire in 1565 and trekked from Anegondi to Mysore with protecting the womenfolk and children of her family.

Wow! All of these showcased with a dance form that is thousands of years old.

Dr.Rau: Yes, it is very much possible to do that. The style itself has so much depth and gives us so many tools. It is a meta language. The jathis (Rhythmic patterns) can be used in the time-honored manner in pure dance. I have used them to create a mood or interpret a nuance in a story. When I do not have a song, which expresses what I want, I create a script or interweave the poems I write into the dance productions. This has been for themes where I could not find suitable music, such as the themes of gender equality. However, many of my ballets have retained the traditional interpretations as in Devi Saraswathi, Krishna, Dasavathara, Geeta Govinda and Nauka Charitramu.

Well-deserved award indeed! Tell us a little bit about your other awards and recognitions.

Dr. Rau: My best awards have been the drawings my little students have given me where they say they love me and love dance. And my students who dance really well and yet have the humility to know they can do better and know that they did not come out of the void. And a parent telling me how much the journey with me has meant to them.

To my mother’s delight, there have some awards and recognition from the Arts community: With my Guru’s grace, under the auspices of Natyakalayam, the award of Natya navaratna from the President of India, 50’ 50’s from Arts Westchester, recognition from IACAW in Nov 2018 for contributions made to the Westchester community, and a few accolades from the county office.

Incredible! But that is not all about you isn’t it? You are a linguist as well. You received a Doctorate in Theoretical Linguistics from University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. You received the Uggrasein Award in Linguistics for being a gold medalist at Delhi University.

Dr. Rau (smiles): Yes.

That is power packed! Before we end this wonderful conversation, what would your advice be for young children and dancers out there?

Dr. Rau: Treat your body and mind well. Have a regular discipline in your practice. Be truly respectful and loyal to your teacher and to the Artform. Aim for the stars and do your best. Enjoy the dance. My best wishes and love to all of them.

Dr. Nalini Rau is a leading dancer, teacher, and choreographer of BharataNatyam. BharataNatyam is an ancient classical dance form.

Art – Spring 2019

Nupur Nishith

Amita Bhalla

Interview with Anu Mahadev

What is your background?

I have always harbored a creative side and have worked with several different art mediums. I felt called to become a physician early on and find it very gratifying to take care of others in this way. My specialties are neurology and sleep medicine.

I grew up in Mumbai, India, and came to the US to pursue a career in medicine. I initially did an internship at Duke University, that led to a research position in Neurobiology. From there, I continued my medical training that eventually led me to Houston. My husband, Karan Bhalla, a cardiologist, and I founded our medical practice, Orion Medical 7 years ago, and this is where I work.

My creativity has always been my safe haven, the spark that fuels the rest of my life. Now that I am in the midst of launching my own jewelry line and integrating my artistic side with the other important roles I play, such as wife, mother, physician, friend and a lover of life, I feel I have finally come full circle. For the first time I am not going to my studio to create only when I have the time for creativity, but because I have come to realize that I am an artist and creating is an integral part of my life.

What does your art represent?

At its core, my art represents my inner child, that part that we all possess deep inside, that has the capacity for untethered imagination, dares to dream big without fear of failure, where the curiosity runs amuck and unconditional love is the only love we know.

For me, creating art is a very personal experience where every one of my creations are born from my reflections on spirituality, sentiment and personal experience.

Over the past few years, my quest to understand my life’s purpose, lead me to reconnect with my inner child and awakened my hibernating creativity with a roar. I came to realize that bringing joy to others by way of meaningful and authentic connections is what brings me immense happiness and contentment. My art, I realized, is a channel that allows me to do just that.

What inspired your jewelry collection?

As I asked the universe to bring me what I need to live my life’s purpose to the fullest, I serendipitously found myself in the midst of divine encounters and experiences, that eventually nudged me to mold clay into jewelry.

One of the most poignant experiences of my life has been painting a door in Valloria, Italy, the town of painted doors, in July 2018. The people of this dreamy Italian village, perched atop a hill along the Mediterranean, welcomed my family and me with open arms. Hundreds of people came by to watch me paint and admired my work. All language barriers were broken by our desire to connect with each other over our common love of art and food. This created in me an emotion that I can only best describe as pure joy. I knew at once that needed to create and share my creations with people in order to experience this simple yet significant emotion time and time again.

Then there were all my recent travels to distant lands. Travel I find, resets my mind that usually travels a million miles a minute. My curiosity to understand the local culture took me on long walks armed with my sketch pad, clay and tools, admiring the architecture, landscape, art, and enjoying connecting with people, tasting the food and becoming as much as a “local” as I can become. Time stood still. That’s usually when the magic happens. In the stillness I allow the universe to use me as a channel to create and my jewelry creations started taking life. These creations carry the energy of the place, people and culture that inspired them and also the pure joy that my heart held as my hands worked on them. The experiences happened, the creativity flowed, and thus was born my jewelry collection.

How is your jewelry different from others’?

I make jewelry from clay made of beeswax and other natural ingredients. It is extremely light, durable and does not break. The molding, mixing and carving of clay is unique to each piece and creates tones, textures and one-of-a-kind designs, that cannot be replicated. The clay elements are incorporated with precious stones and this dance of various mediums creates a unique luxury creation, that I like to think of as wearable art.

What advice do you have for women who want to explore their creative side

Creations exist because someone had the courage to express themselves regardless of the fear of judgment. Creativity is not limited to art but in fact is broader than that, and each one of us has a creative side. Release the fear of judgement and give yourself permission to follow your passion and to experience the joy of creating, and allow others to be moved and inspired by your unique gift. Even if you inspire one other person, you have created a positive change in the world.

Having finally realized my life’s purpose, which is to create different flavors of happiness in others and myself through the various roles I play, I have never felt more content and I sincerely hope that others find this sense of inner peace and contentment too.

As an artist, Amita Bhalla creates one of a kind jeweled masterpieces born of beeswax & clay, sculpted by hand and brought to life with exceptional gemstones. Every piece is unique, striking a balance between bold scale and ultra-delicate design. Her work is designed with an expressed sensitivity to the natural world. Each of her jewels was created to be collected, worn and exalted.Amita Bhalla’s work mimics the appearance of a frothing arctic sea. Pristinely white and imbued with an energetic sense of movement, her pieces embody the restless power and beauty of a woman in motion.

Neelima Chikkodi

Painting is a form of meditation for me. It brings peace and balance in my life. As I painted this Ganesha, I envisioned building a temple for Him, I felt humbled by His grace and blessings and I offered flowers at His feet.

This artwork is done in oil on canvas and measures 24 inches x 30 inches.

Neelima Chikkodi is an IT professional living in the Dallas Fort Worth area. She loves to paint in her spare time and enjoys the process of shading and mixing colors.

Rayla R Noel

1.’Trees of the field’ Oil on canvas 12″x 8″
2. ‘Village Green’ Oil on canvas 36″x24″
3. ‘Harvest’ 12″x 8″ watercolour painting on paper.

Three original works of Rayla R. Noel

Art – Fall 2018

Neelima Chikkodi

Sacred Heart

by TextaQueen

“Texta” is Australian for felt-tip marker and TextaQueen is Australia’s felt-tip superhero.

Renowned for use of the humble felt-tip marker to boldly re-interpret the tradition of the salon nude, TextaQueen explores politics of sex, gender, race, and identity in tangent with ideas of self-image and interpersonal relationships. Texta’s practice articulates delicate interplays between vulnerability and empowerment, intimacy and exhibitionism, and subjective and collective expressions of feminist, queer, and cultural identities.

Sacred Heart

Sub-Cultural Charms

Reclaiming the gothic appropriation of the Indian nose chain while claiming my latent gothic identity, each of the charms represents my cultural influences. A baby’s rattle saying “It’s a Girl,” imposing binary gender from birth. The wedding cake normalizing heterosexuality, monogamy, and marriage. An ABC building block of growing up learning only the colonial language of English. The dollar sign of capitalism. The rosary beads and crucifix of Catholicism, which is often used in gothic nose chains also. The map of India cut out of the map of Australia representing cultural identity, seen both as racial over locational and my dual identity as (non-Indigenous) Australian and Indian. And a family portrait, invisibly embodying many of these influences.

Gandhi Returns

Possibly the most globally famous Indian cultural icon, Mahatma Gandhi was important to the movement for Indian independence from the British through non-violent resistance, yet Gandhi expressed anti-black racism in South Africa and misogynistic sexual behavior towards young women. Here, returned from the dead as a salivating zombie, Gandhi is a literally imperfect figure. I’m questioning our idolization of leaders into one-dimensional icons, how we erase their complexities and ignore their humanity, and the dangers of fixating on hierarchies of leadership. As a self-portrait, I’m contemplating my own imperfections.

Family Tree

Who am I from?
How do I connect to my ancestors?
An elephant never forgets
But when my research tool is Google
Searching: Goa India
It’s “a top vacation destination”
White hippies drumming at sunset to find themselves
Private beach resorts with white chairs along the sand
Each click brought to my screen via the flashy lenses of
Those finding or selling “exotic escape” or “affordable luxury”
Reminders of my heritage
As changed and stolen by colonizers and capitalism

But my body remembers who I am from
My body holds connections
Naked, I arm/trunk wrestle with the long memoried elephant
My ancestors shimmied up coconut palms
And now they float down around me in coconut water
As supermarket chocolate jelly babies called “Chicos”
A rare visible brown consumable of my childhood
I delighted to eat myself while others were eating my otherness

But my body remembers where I am from
My body holds connections
Naked, I wrestle, my arm with the trunk of the long memoried elephant
Both an embrace and a struggle, to connect
My ancestors shimmied up coconut palms to collect their fruit
And now I see them falling down from the coconut palm,
floating around me in coconut water
I see them as chocolate caramel gummy babies
labeled in Australian supermarkets as “Chicos”
A rare visible brown consumable of my childhood
I delighted to eat myself while others ate my otherness
Now I hold my belly over my womb
Pondering the continuation of my bloodline
What I carry and what I may pass on.

TextaQueen has exhibited widely and wildly at white-walled galleries with acronyms such as MCA, PICA, AGNSW, GSCAS, ACMI, and GOMA, and internationally in Belgium, Amsterdam, and Montreal. TextaQueen’s work is held in the collections of Art Gallery of Western Australia, National Gallery of Victoria, National Portrait Gallery of Australia, University of Queensland, Mornington Peninsular Regional Gallery, Monash University of Modern Art, Cruthers Collection of Womens Art, Art Gallery of Ballarat, Artbank, and private collections in Australia, the United Kingdom and North America. http://textaqueen.com

All images © TextaQueen

Delhi Through the Night

by Neha Chaturvedi

The accompanying photographs can form a part of a narrative or stand alone as moments that occur in the city of Delhi through the night. These pictures are reflections on not only the obsession with the old and chaotic parts of the city, but also on the gaze of a middle-class, academically-oriented woman from a relatively small town, who feels more comfortable and safe behind a camera as she walks anonymous through the wide and narrow, intimidating and yet liberating streets of the capital city of Delhi.

walk through the night

on the other side

pishaach (demon)

cursed

languages

of other spaces

dhaatu (element)

Neha Chaturvedi is currently working on her dissertation. A constantly distracted person incapable of focus both literally and figuratively, prone to spells of hyperactivity conjunct with long phases of laziness, her only companion through long and sometimes anxious walks through the city is her camera. On other occasions, she likes to paint, write, act, or simply linger over nothings.

All Images © Neha Chaturvedi

Freedom Color

by Sanchari Sur

Photography is not my main medium of expression. Writing is. Yet, I have found that it is through photographs that I can express what I am unable to find words for. In photography, I try to capture the randomness in the mundane, the unexpected in the predictable, the carpe vitam in the commonplace. Some of my clicks have a voyeuristic quality since I have found that as a woman of color, there are certain lines one cannot cross. I trespass those lines anyway, but from a distance.

These photos were taken in Kolkata, India in 2012, in the month of the Hindu Festival of Colors (also known as Holi). I have tried to capture moments where the “play” that arises from the festival allows for a freedom of transgression between caste, class, and gender lines in India.

Freedom Color

Synesthesia

Touch 2

Conversation

Touch

Rhapsody

Sanchari Sur is a Bengali Canadian who was born in Calcutta, India. A graduate student of gender studies at Queen’s University, Kingston, she is currently working on her first novel tentatively titled Blood Red Sky. Her short fiction, photography and poetry have been published or are forthcoming in Pyrta, nthposition, Barely South Review, Map Literary, Diverse Voices Quarterly and elsewhere. In early 2012, her short story “Those Sri Lankan Boys” was selected for the Diaspora Dialogues Youth Mentorship Program in Toronto. http://sursanchari.wordpress.com

All images © Sanchari Sur

Indo-Caribbean

by Preston Merchant

These pictures are part of Indiaworld, my forthcoming photography book about the global Indian diaspora. Indians have lived in the Caribbean since the mid-1800s, brought by the British as indentured laborers to work in sugar and rice plantations in Trinidad, Guyana, Jamaica, and other colonies. Most migrants came from the modern states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, with smaller numbers coming from Tamil Nadu. Indo-Caribbeans maintain unique traditions, often with roots in rural India, especially among Hindus, such as the puja ceremony around a prayer flag called a jhandi and the celebration of Phagwah, the Bhojpuri word for Holi. Many Indo-Caribbeans have further migrated to New York, Toronto, and London. Guyana has been one of the largest contributors to New York’s immigrant community since the early 1990s. The Richmond Hill neighborhood in Queens is called Little Guyana and is the center of the Indo-Caribbean community in New York.

Easter kite flying along the seawall. Georgetown, Guyana

Mungal Patasar and his band Pantar, which combines his sitar with steel plan and other instruments. Chaguanas, Trinidad

Phagwah (Holi) parade. Richmond Hill, New York

Radhika Drebaul and her brother Dennis Jaikaran perform a jhandi ceremony, the dedication of Hindu prayer flags in the Indo-Guyanese tradition, on the anniversary of their mother’s death. Ozone Park, New York

Ashely watches while her grandfather kills a duck. Hague, Guyana

Preston Merchant lives in the Bay Area, California. He teaches photography as an adjunct professor at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism in New York. A selection of his images is featured in an exhibit by the Smithsonian Institute’s Indian American Heritage Project, opening in the winter of 2014, called “Beyond Bollywood: Indian Americans Shape the Nation.” http://prestonmerchant.com

All images © Preston Merchant