At the completion of an art camp that was a unique experience for both the Kaaya team and the artists in residence — in ways perhaps best expressed in their own work and presence.
Mysore-based Iranian artist Tala Afshin, currently pursuing a PhD on Indian and Iranian miniature paintings, brought a fresh perspective to the residency — and sculpted the Kaaya logo in Persian text, a gift we still carry with us.
Painter Srinivas Rao Potelu works largely in abstraction, drawn to the colour green after two years travelling through the forests of Andhra Pradesh and living in tribal villages. Based in Hyderabad, his intensity left us wishing for more time with his work.
Satya Sai Mothadaka discovered his talent as a child, when classmates would come to him for their biology drawings. Now head of the art department and a teacher at Army Public School, Delhi, recognised internationally, he was instrumental in encouraging other artists to join the residency.
Delhi-based painter Punam Sharma works with themes of nature and abstraction, having moved from oil on canvas to a distinctive paper-on-paper style. A passionate teacher herself, her work at Kaaya reflected her particular way of mixing nature with abstraction.
Jagmohan Bangani, a Lalit Kala Research Scholar and Ford Foundation fellow originally from Uttarakhand, has a long association with Kaaya — one that gave birth to the idea of the Artists’ Residency itself.
Mural artist and sculptor Gude Srinivasa Rao spends much of his time living and making art alongside tribal communities, bringing a distinct tribal flavour to the work he created during his stay.
Deepak Panwar, originally from Rudraprayag and from a family of sculptors, created sculptures during the residency that echoed the mountains and forests surrounding Kaaya itself.
Hyderabad-based artist Bhaskar Rao, whose work has reached international recognition including selection into the Art Revolution Taipei salon, fused his love of trees and landscape with the quiet beauty of Tilwari village.
Delhi-based sculptor Amit Singh, shaped by an MFA from Lucknow and a six-month residency in the Netherlands, worked with clay, glass, metal, and Plaster of Paris during his three days with us — a glimpse of a much wider practice.
Eight artists, eight very different practices, one residency that asked nothing of them except to make, share, and be present.
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