Shanthi Kasiviswanathan, a Mumbai artist whose solo exhibition titled ‘Reactions, Responses, Inquiries’ was on at the Jehangir Art Gallery in Kala Ghoda from February 1 to 7, is irked at losing out on a day. The gallery closed on February 7, post legendary singer Lata Mangeshkar’s death. The decision, Kasiviswanathan said, threw her and other artists who were exhibiting their works at different galleries in the iconic Jehangir space “for a loop”.

Loss ’n’ grief

The Dadar West-based artist said, “I have the greatest respect for Lataji. Yet, deciding to close the gallery, a decision I learnt of late Sunday evening, post Lata Mangeshkar’s death as a mark of mourning caused artists significant loss and grief on a precious day. The order was to close government offices. Public art spaces should be protecting artists through promoting art. We, artists who were exhibiting there on that day, could have held a ‘shraddhanjali’ (tribute) to Lataji on the day during the exhibition. But I was informed that the gallery decided to close as the museum was closed. We could not get any extension as another lot of artists had booked the spaces from the next day onwards.”