A unique exhibition organised by Army Wives Welfare Association (AWWA)was held at Academy of Fine Arts, Kolkata on 8th March.
The exhibition, that showcases the works of Army wives.On Women’s Day this Pan India exhibition won the hearts of common Calcuttans too.
This is the city of some of India’s greatest painters and it has a big community of art buffs and enthusiasts,” a Ph.D student of Kolkata shared her thoughts .
“Kolkata is a very vibrant city and I think people take to culture and art as fish takes to water.So it’s a very good opportunity we could have given to our ladies , some of them are entrepreneurs from the beginning and some of them are taking it as a first step towards being able to showcase their talents. And this way I think we will be able to do much better. Actually they all are doing out of passion. So when passion will develop into profession, when they are given such opportunities I think they will do a very good job”.– Rupali Kahlon, wife of Maj Gen S.S.Kahlon, GOC, Bengal Sub Area.
For painter Shradhya Ganguly , painting is a “therapy.”’ “I paint for joy, not only for money,” she told with a smile , saying she has been painting since Lockdown.
Wife of Col S.S.Ganguly , Shradhya is a portrait artist.She makes customised sketches.
“To come out of depression … As art is like a therapy for me “.
Rachna Gurjar, wife of Nyak M S Gurjar came from Shillong to participate in this exhibition. She make jute bags, school bags, ladies purse etc. “I am very happy to come here. My husband always supports me to do this.” delightedly she shared with me standing besides her husband.
“AWWA helps us a lot”..Manashi Kole, wife of Sepoy Samiran Kole told with a happy heart. This lady designs ear rings, garlands and Bangles with beads, stones and colourful threads.
Vani RC of Karnataka, wife of Havildar Sharan Basappa is a paper work artist. “AWWA helped me to do a course to make such items like greetings card, flower vase, bottle bags etc”..she said.
It’s such an honour to arrange an exhibition here in Kolkata – Neerupama Handa, wife of Maj Gen Vinod Handa told.
She is an artist of wearable art , hand painted clothing etc. She is in this profession for the last 20 years and has exhibited her talents nicely.
“This pan India exhibition is done by central AWWA and the main motto of this exhibition is to empower the women basically. In Army we have lots of talents. But ladies are moving with their husbands and sometimes they are not able to follow their passion. They are looking their kids, men are on the borders and they are working all time so this is an exhibition to give opportunities to Army wives. In short, the motto is to give this platform an opportunity to showcase their talents.”—Ms.Handa added.
Neelima Dayal, wife of Maj Gen Abhay Dayal is a watercolour artist and she started painting during the lockdown as she found it meditative and relaxing. “Nature is my muse and my pallette is inspired by the places I have been to with my husband in Army. I draw my inspiration from him and he has always supported me in my journey”.
Army wives with exemplary creativity exhibited a range of arts – Mandela, Zentangle, Acrylic painting, Pencil sketches, fabric art, Madhubani, water colour, canvas paintings and lot more. Other than artistic work, a variety of handmade craft items were also showcased – Handmade Resin products, Decoupage, Alcohol inks, Mixed Media, handbags, embroidery works, jewellery and Artefacts.
The Art gallery was full of talents of Army wives. The public who came to witness the exhibition were truly amazed and mesmerized.
Pratyusha Mukherjee, a Broadcast Journalist of BBC based in Kolkata. In her illustrated career she covered many major events and achieved International and Indian Media Awards for Journalism.