Ehsaas: A splendid confluence of art and artists on one stage in Delhi

31 personalities from the world of art and culture will transform into mobile installations to walk the ramp in wearable art at Ehsaas.

Kathak exponent Birju Maharaj is known to leave his audience spellbound with just his facial expressions. Imagine the grace he would exude if he would walk the ramp, wearing a stole flaunting a painting by Delhi-based artist Alka Raghuvanshi. This visual becomes a reality on September 2 at an event titled, Ehsaas.

Thirty artists will come together to walk the ramp while flaunting wearable art to create a picture that’s difficult to concise.

The event is a confluence of five art forms: paintings, design, film, dance and music. There will be 31 personalities from the world of art and culture, who will become mobile installations to model saris, neck ties, neck pieces and stoles that have been designed using paintings. The artworks are by Raghuvanshi, Shridhar Iyer, Niren Sengupta, Manisha Gawade and Sanjay Bhattacharyya.

“My quest for a multi-disciplinary approach to the arts, took me exactly one year to put together Ehsaas, says Raghuvanshi, also the curator of the show. “I sifted through nearly 1,000 paintings before selecting 50 works. Using these paintings, I designed the saris and other wearable art on handwoven tussar fabric. In addition, I created jewellery – neck pieces – out of my paintings and strung with semi precious stones. But still I felt something was missing – the figurative dimension – after all, saris or ties need to be worn by people. I didn’t want deadpan models to sport these works of art. Hence, I chose classical dancers and musicians and of course artists to take to the stage wearing these creations, for I find them very beautiful and people with interesting personalities and arresting faces,” she adds.

(L-R) Rashmi Vaidialingam, Bhajan Sopori, Shaswati Sen, Radhuka Chopra, Wasifuddin Dagar, Rajesh Tailang, Avinash Pasricha, Shridhar Iyer, Mahesh Bansal, Manisha Gawade, Uma Sharma, Birju Maharaj, Alka Raghuvanshi, Ranjana Gauhar, Sharon Lowen, Niren Sengupta, Kaushalya Reddy, Sunita Budhiraja, Sunit Tandon, Shovana Narayan, Bharti Shivaji, Sawani Mudgal, Vijaylakshmi, Arushi Mudgal and Madhup Mudgal.

Those who have witnessed this convergence of art in 2012, can relive the nostalgia via a documentary that will be screened this evening. “The film is based on the process of paintings being transformed into wearable art. The major challenge for me was to capture the stage show because unlike cinema, the real drama was happening among the audience when these personalities were on the stage. I had to capture the splendour and grandeur of that ehsaas (experience), as the name of the show explains,” says Rajesh Tailang, director of the documentary.

Tailang, a theatre actor-director, will also walk on the stage flaunting a stole. “I’m an actor and familiar to the stage. When on stage, I get into a character. In fact, my elder brother Sudhir Tailang walked for this show in 2012. He is no longer with us, and I feel that this time, I’m representing him... It’s an emotional experience, too,” he shares.

“Six personalities will wear my works,” says artist Manisha Gawade. “Sharon Lowen (Odissi dancer), Radhika Chopa (Ghazal singer), Pratibha Prahlad (Bharatanatyam dancer) and Madhup Mudgal (vocalist) will wear a combination of three artworks from my series named Mindscapes of Mindspaces. Bhavana Reddy (Kuchipudi dancer) will wear a sari designed from the series Threads of Life.”

Raghuvanshi has also written an illustrated book on Ehsaas, with photographs by Umesh Verma.

Catch It Live

What: Ehsaas

Where: The Stein Auditorium, India Habitat Centre, Lodhi Road

When: September 2

Timings: 7pm

Nearest Metro Station: Jor Bagh on Yellow Line

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