Islamabad An online exhibition of Ragini Upadhyay Grela’s work opens today (Friday) on Gallery6 Islamabad’s website and social media links. Ragini is a leading Nepali printmaker and painter, who graduated in Fine Arts from Lucknow University in 1982 and has also studied in Germany and the UK. Her first exhibition was held in 1979 in Nepal, and over the last 41 years, she has had 63 solo exhibitions and has participated in several group shows.
Ragini’s work highlights serious socio-political issues or happenings in the world or in her personal life. The exhibition features original and digital prints and paintings from the artist’s different series. Discussing her artworks, Ragini states, “My life has been art, and art has been my life. I have never stopped transforming my thoughts and emotions into pictures that narrate stories. I initiate them, and the spectator has to complete them.”
The ‘Gai Jatra’ series, which was created in 2010, depicted the chaos created by politicians in Nepal. The cow represented the general public and politicians its owners. Commenting on this, Ragini said “The politicians milk it endlessly but never want to know what this cow (the public) wants.”
Commenting on works from the ‘Time’ series, Nepali poet and playwright Abhi Subedi wrote “Ragini theorizes that time is evanescent; people who were there in the past are no longer there today and we too will go away one day. These places will continue to exist, and we will not be there. Time is mightier than all of us.”
Three works featured in the exhibition are from the ‘Love in the Air’ series in which romance and bonding of lovers is seen happening high up in the clouds, around the globe. There are two very interesting works from the recent ‘Corona Times’ series that are also about lovers. They present the changed behaviour of lovers in current circumstances in a colorful way.
The ‘Nature Speaks’ series is inspired by nature’s suffering and devastation. Cutting trees, dumping waste in river and sea, and polluting the air with cars for the sake of human comfort cannot continue without consequences. Climate change is nature’s response, and the result is in the violence of earthquakes, typhoons and hurricanes.
The exhibition also features three powerful works from the ‘Ashes’ series that Ragini did in 2017 after the sudden death of her only child—a teenage daughter. Describing these, she stated “Losing my lovely child Shivata completely changed my world. My creativity explores new fields planted with sadness and desire to reconnect with Shivata beyond death.”Part of the artist’s income now goes to ‘Shivata Love Foundation’ that she has established to support poor children and women of Nepal.
Art lovers can view this exhibition online https://gallery6islamabad.com/category/exhibition/