“Which things make a home? A comfortable and resting space where each and everything is of either your own choice or your partner/ children's choice, a place where u forget your tensions, a place where you feel safe, a place you feel love. But what happens if this place has become your whole space due to a pandemic situation. I got married 10 days before this situation arises in India. Unaware of this situation, we were dreaming of our different fantasy world where we can enjoy our initial days of married life and the next moment the whole scenario got changed and the only room in Kharar became our whole world. My works deal with some romantic moments, reminiscing old days, our day to day activities, love towards nature, and consciousness towards our surroundings.

The ‘Sabjiwala’ is the portray of myself, my husband, and a vegetable seller at the centre. During the lockdown, when we are allowed to go out for a few hours only to buy essential things, this Sabjiwala is the only hope for us to get vegetables. We visit him on regular basis to buy veggies and talk to him about this hard time. He tells us about the risky process of getting vegetables from mandi (a crowded place) every day for his livelihood in this pandemic. After listening to his problems and how he is struggling to get over this situation, he seems a heroic character to me which creates hope in us of overcoming this situation. I have done background with a dark colour to show a hard time and against it, I have drawn all masked portraits by repeating small patches of different bright colours that show energy and hope.”

In my ‘Florescencing Mind,’ I tried to capture some of our moments in this particular situation. Most of the time we fear of corona and get presumptuous about its symptoms with a simple issue. To avoid such fear, both have concentrated on the small chores of home to give peace to each other. This work deals with the inner pleasure and strength of two souls. I have drawn myself and my husband in this drawing. I have tried to show the energy communication between us through a small activity of hair massage. This small action creates a slight smile and a sense of calmness on my face. My hair works as a bridge here which helps in strengthening our minds, exchanging our thoughts and knowledge. The use of constant patches and lines indicates the flow of energy. In addition to hair massage, my husband has been shown singing which again creates a relaxing moment in a particular space.”

SHILPY