Hangman's Design Studio in Hyderabad, India

Vartika Singh: New heights and sketches.

Grasping A Silver Moon Beam - Vartika Singh

She lifts her face to the inimitable blue of the sky, her hands gently release the bird. She cranes her delicate neck to see bird wings kiss soft clouds sounding divine symphonies with each flap. Vartika Singh’s women yearn to create such resonating symphonies in their lives as much as they crave for a taste of ‘real’ freedom, a freedom of thought and action, observes Sushma Sabnis.

(Artist Vartika Singh)

With a MFA degree in painting, from the Aligarh Muslim University, Vartika is not the first woman artist to articulate her thoughts and concerns about women and women’s issues. But Vartika delves a lot more deeper than most. She draws inspiration from the women around her. Her neighbours her relatives and her friends, who, with their very existence and ability to multitask faultlessly, inspire the artist to look into their private lives as women, as individuals.

What she does find however, is a duality, a deep set longing unseen by outsiders and even the people around them. This longing is not a romantic one for a lost love, but for a love much more alluring than the one felt for a person. It is the love for an independence, a longing for freedom of the spirit. Vartika believes women, irrespective of the country or generation they were born in, lead a subtly bridled life. Irrespective of their social standing, professional and personal strength, financial independence, women seem to be bogged down and unable to move to a higher, freer level of existence.

The artist articulates her empathy for these women through her ongoing series of works titled, ‘Wish I Could Fly, Like You Do��. This recent series focuses primarily on women and their quest for an internal freedom which is as much a tangible reality as is their need for stability in life. The artist paints and draws the protagonist of her works, a woman, in her own distinct figurative style. The woman seems to be seated in most of the paintings, either holding a bird or a strand of beads or a flower. Each of these elements are symbols indicative of the woman’s struggles or her passion and at times her fantasies.

In all of Vartika’s paintings, the woman depicted is an Indian, saree clad traditional woman. Her forehead is at times smeared with the wedded auspiciousness of red kumkum and she sits on the floor, earthing herself almost with an unshakeable grounded-ness. Like a tree that has its roots clutching the soil, while its leaves rise up to touch the sky, Vartika’s women sometimes, look up in hope and optimism, and at times bow their heads to an invisible burden of a reality, rarely expressed by them.

In one of her soft pastel on paper works, the woman looks at a strand of beads which could be a ceremonial chain/ binding which ties her down, weighing heavy on her conscience. The artist gently brings the viewer’s attention to the woman’s facial expression, which is replete with unanswered questions. The sensitivity in Vartika’s paintings is obvious, but the strokes the artist employs in her works are sharp and almost retaliatory in nature. Somewhere one would see the artist mirroring these women's fragility and helplessness. The need to break free of bonds and bindings of all kinds, physical and mental resonate in her works.

The works are dominated by two or three colours, red, blue and black. When asked about the specific dominance of these colours, the artist explains the symbolism relevant to her. Blue is the colour of the sky also freedom and flight, red is an important colour in a woman’s life, it could depict auspiciousness and alertness or even danger. It could depict the burning of the earth’s core or an emotion like anger, kept in check in social scenarios. Black lines the white-ness of things, defining them and classifying them as good or bad, day or night, black creates the balance of energies.

Interestingly, in one of her works on paper, she depicts the woman protagonist sitting looking up at the slice of a midnight moon, her hands have red bangles and ankles have red anklets, the colour oddly quietens the image, especially when the sky has flecks of red mirrored in it. Birds fly in a group in the moonlight and the woman sits silently witnessing, what could only be a night of endless waiting, an empty grasping of a silver moon beam.

Though Vartika’s work concentrates more on women as protagonists, the concept of a personal freedom is more a larger human issue that she addresses. The freedom a human being seeks from social, political, religious, personal and professional bindings or expectations, to breathe free and to be true to one’s own self in thought and action, without obligatory crutches is what the artist seeks to unearth, a truly independent exalted human spirit.

Vartika likes to work in the charcoals, soft pastels, acrylic on canvas and on paper, having explored numerous other mediums. Her recent foray into film making and video art has got her recognition as a featured artist in the International Film Festival held at Delhi. With deep insights, a subtle, sensitive expression and keen observation of the world around her, this young artist, promises to shine bright in the future.

Vartika Singh currently lives and works in New Delhi.
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