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Explore death, peace and war at an art exhibition in Mumbai
T Venkanna’s paintings will transport you to a concentration camp, connect you with refugees stranded in the Mediterranean.
Artist T Venkanna’s strength lies in his ability to not just take you someplace else, but also make you feel it through his works.
In Looking for Peace, his show at the Sakshi gallery, Venkanna goes to that fearful space of death in a war. Your heart sinks and the stomach churns at the unsettling paintings. A field of dead bodies, a room filled with injured and scared people, a space full of insects.
“As an artist I can only highlight what I see, observe and feel,” says Venkanna. “The paintings are meant to sensitise the viewer about the pain and suffering around us. Finally this is only art. Life is so much more discomfiting.”
One painting, Entry Only, was prompted by Venkanna’s visit to a concentration camp in Auschwitz, Poland, where thousands of Jews were gassed and murdered. Endless Journey is about the many refugees stuck in the Mediterranean, trying to get to Europe.
The artist believes that on the pretext of finding or establishing peace, we are doing the exact opposite – waging wars and harming both nature and mankind.
“Looking for Peace is a satirical title that suggests that we may be looking for solutions in the wrong places,” says Venkanna. “Building bigger walls or dropping bombs is not the answer. Maybe we should start with loving more and understanding each other and our differences.”
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