I was born to my parents six years after their marriage. Whenever I ask the reason for this, my mom always says, “We weren’t ready to have a child.” I always wondered what ‘being ready meant. As I grew older, she used to tell me stories about how it’s a huge responsibility to raise a child. I never actually understood the equation – nevertheless, I agreed to what she said.
I am a single child and I grew up in a nuclear, Marwadi family. In my school days, I was very fond of participating in all the activities around – not to excel, but only to experience them. I am very fortunate to have parents who have supported my choices, decisions and ideas without questioning them.
My mom is an artist herself – and that made my choice of art as a career easy. Back when I used to stay at home, we both would trade art pieces. I would read out my stories to her and she used to sing for me.
This year, as the entire world gears up to celebrate the International Women’s Day through art in their own ways, I wish to celebrate my mom. This made me look into the bigger picture of ‘celebrating womanhood through art’ at Platform For Artists (PFA). Since the very beginning of my journey at PFA, I have had the privilege to meet and work with artists whose ideas and creativity have made a home in my mind.
Together, we thought of appreciating and celebrating womanhood using art as our weapon. So, this time, we will be hosting projects in the eight cities we are based in – Pune, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Indore, Nagpur and Aurangabad. Here, artists from the different spheres of the world of art will perform, showcase their artwork and celebrate womanhood through art. What can be a better way of acknowledging the women in our lives?
I believe that art is a form of expression and that love is the most difficult emotion to express. Through poems, dance, painting, photography and any other art form, we can actually convey our love, respect and admiration for all the women who play an important role in our lives in some way or the other. By using this powerful weapon, we will create work to portray the change women have been bringing to our society.
You can check out the details of the entire project on Platform For Artists’ Instagram and Facebook handles.