Aalapana- Indianness Personified

Hello folks!

So this post comes from a dove with a message that would prove to be more useful to people who are planning to be in Bengaluru on 12^th-13^th October, 2013. Reason?

We had posted sometime back about Mrs. Lavanyaa K.R. and her amazing story which led to the birth of Varnanggall. So for the first time, this lady is planning to connect to her audience on a real platform, a turn from the virtual platform. Is it because of the astonishing response from her customers or is it to satisfy all the online fans by giving them an opportunity to get a feel of all the colourful, eye-catching art-pieces? Only Lavanyaa would be having the answers to that.

You may ask why we at Startoholics are focusing on this and are back with another post highlighting this exhibition. Here are few things that might explain why we found this interesting.

Aalapana, as is the name of the exhibition, in Sanskrit language means “to speak, address, discourse, communicate.” The artist plans to let her work communicate and speak through the language of colour, designs and beautiful works of art. She emphasizes on bringing together a range of materials from all around India which includes West Bengal’s bright cotton, Andhra Pradesh’s cotton silk and Madhya Pradesh’s Chanderi.

Another thing that caught our attention was the inclusion of Kalamkari art in their work.  In collaboration with very talented women who never got a formal training (but mastered it all through observation!) in this art form, the artist has taken the opportunity to exhibit their vented frustrations that was channeled into this art. Frustrations? These women were often busy dealing with alcoholic non-supportive husbands or fathers who made their childhood worse than many of the so-called horror films.

Then there are the artistic men on board Varnanggall’s contributory team with their amazing power of dealing with calculations and Geometry which could put any trained Mathematician to shame! With ‘block printing’ and mixing dyes, it’s not as easy as one would imagine it to be. Definitely not as easy as dabbling with a Stamp pad and paper!

At a time when learned people come together to create startups, here’s one that binds together many not-so-successful people under the umbrella called Varnanggall to protect them from the dissuading ways of life. 

To all those who would be there at that time, guess this would definitely be one place worth visiting!

Mark the date. Get ready for your eyes to be treated with an amazing dash of colour, intricate designs and of course existential proof of the capabilities of the ones who sometimes don’t seem to exist for a world that is absorbed in the Urban-ness of it all.

http://startoholics.in/2013/10/aalapana-indianness-personified/