Upcoming exhibition pays an ode to moong, tur and urad

Sarban Chowdhury

Pulses form an essential ingredient of every Indian cuisine. Be it the plate of the rich with fancy dishes or a much humbler dinner, some daal is an essential part of an Indian dinner with over 15 kinds of pulses consumed.

Aditi Raman and Digbijayee Khatua

But, despite their significance, pulses have hardly ever make it to the canvas or become a theme of art. Artists at Piramal Art Foundation, for a three-week residency are, however, exploring and investigating the broad societal issues that surround the pulse chain and will come out with work on the basis of that. This theme is aligned with United Nations naming this year the International Year of Pulses.

Samir Mohanty and Sagar Naik Mule

The residency culminates in an Open Studio with experimental work, which is educative and accessible to all. The idea, explains, curator of the exhibition, Rekha Sameer, is to delve into the narratives of pulses beyond the immediate.

"There are many things in our everyday lives that are so essential to our existence that we pay no attention to. There is so much to the story of pulses; its journey from the farm to the plate is full of stages that can be explored," she says. Sameer, who is keenly interested in society and is a social artist, encouraged the five participants at the residency to focus on the social journey of the pulses. "I encouraged the participants to think about the farmers, the middlemen and the prices. To think about who can afford pulses and who cannot. My work, too, will be on the class differences based on what food one can afford " she says.

The artists are working on different themes. While one work is scaling up the pulse grain to make it visible, another is focussing on artificial colouring. "We must strive to the end that when people come to see the works there is an impact and there is a shift in the way of thinking. There has to be a connection between the artist, the art and the viewer," she signs off.