A constant battle between the Black and White world of art. Presenting here a bunch of drawings showcasing this war on paper. Who is more dominant is it WHITE or BLACK? Who demands more respect from the Artists? Who is gives more strength to our work of art? All these dilemmas are displayed in this video presentation of my works in B&W. Works are not actually from a particular series or year. They are compilation of years of work on various themes or emotional turmoils of mine. All work created by Soumen Bhowmick over a period of time, on paper of various size and make.
After more than 30 years of waiting nothing, absolutely nothing for the BHOPAL GAS TRAGEDY victims. Verdict was given in a concocted manner, making it more tragic and painful for the victims of this human error. 1984, I was a school student at that time. I still remember Raghu Rai’sB&W photograph of the buried dead child’s face on the cover of India Today magazine. Very haunting and horrific picture of modern India. Unborn fetuses were killed and chemically destroyed inside the womb, kept as evidence in laboratory jars. So horrible were their state of deformation that even god will cry for them. Hundreds of people died, deformed in the most horrific way, blinded, their bodies were marked with the most painful memories of a careless and criminal company; UNION CARBIDE.
It was a scene from a chemical warfare, played in our own motherland. Cruel joke played by a multinational company on the face of India. Children, women, some of them pregnant, old people, men and cattle’s were sacrificed at the alter of development. Indians, mostly poor and helpless group of people were punished for no fault of theirs. People screaming for help at the dead hour of night, running, pushing each other, crying. Holocaust revisited! So much noise was made after this tragic incident, but except for some peanuts in the form of monetary relief, no concrete help was given to the victims.
My responsibility as a creative soul raises few questions through this series of drawings titled‘GASSED’. Like the Nazis did to the Jews during the World War II, a foreign firm did this to the people of India and the Govt. of India just kept quiet and even helped the main accused, Warren Anderson of UNION CARBIDE escape from India.
But my drawings will speak the rawest language of pain and despair on behalf of millions of Indians. Injustice was done and still continued on the victims of the gas tragedy. Any rational and humane soul will raise his voice against this barbaric act. I sought the way through lines on paper, drawings of the macabre is what you going to observe now. And let your heart feel and your mind think about this chemically altered face of human beings.
10 days of creative madness right in the heart of Delhi. National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA), New Delhi was the venue for this panting workshop for children of various age groups. I was responsible for the middle age group, as an Art Instructor. What an experience. Bombarded each day with new creative challenges by all these young geniuses. For me, I just wanted to give the kids as much freedom as possible. The brief was simple, freak out with lines, forms and colour. Just be yourself while expressing on paper. Experimented this time with these huge brown paper panels (5 in total). An idea embraced by one and all there. It was a huge success. Let the young participants draw their heart out with just charcoal. Only from memory, no particular reference point was given to them. India and its cultural diversity was the central theme for the 5 panels. I stressed more in learning drawing.
They made a creative history there at NGMA Delhi. Fabulous results as one can see the works here.
Thanks to NGMA, New Delhi for all these photographs.
Video by Soumen Bhowmick 2016. Video Editing by CHOTAMOTA Productions.
