Identity Art Marathon was a twenty-four days art festival consisting of art exhibitions, talks, performances, plays, music, and workshops conducted at Aparna art gallery. Curated by Aakshat Sinha, the art marathon was an ode to long forgotten memories of our childhood such as the smell of wet soil when it rains, dust-laden covers of old hardbacks, and glory of paper photographs.
As I sauntered through the paintings made by Akshat Sinha and sculptures made by his team, I found that every creation was inspired by a sense of nostalgia. While the obscure paintings depicted the entire routine of the painter during his college days, the face casts made by other artists depicted the transition of a human mind into a mechanical circuit board owing to overdependence on technology.
‘A Museum of Me’ was a personal history and each art form was a manifestation of artist’s activity during an hour of his day which comprised of a day at college, evenings at sea-shores, and visits to prominent places of the city where he studied. Few hours among these paintings were highly obscure for which Aakshat explained that the memories for these hours were blurred. He further added, “Obscurity in these minimalist paintings is to invoke guesses among the spectators about the fading memories of their past.” Degenerated family photo albums by Aadit Basu stitched together a portrait of his growing up years at a time of grief, innocence and joy.
Aakshat Sinha, an M.Tech has curated and organized many national and international art exhibitions, and art camps and events when he switched over to his creative side. Aadit Basu’s works range from sculptures and photography to installations and the common theme that reflects in most of his works are loss, absence, faith and memory. Last twenty days at Identity Art Marathon witnessed performances by artists like Musica Medicina; Shardul Shekhar and Vaibhav; ApnaManch – Mural of India; Behl’s photography; and Dastarkhwan-E-Dilli, workshop of Chef Gunjan Goela who spoke about the food and flavours of Delhi.
