Nivedita Fine Arts - Talking in Pictures

My creative journey began 2 decades ago, with architecture. I worked on projects across the entire spectrum of the field - from building mud houses in rural belts of Maharashtra to hyper luxury apartments in south Mumbai. From designing and building lamps to neighborhood planning. These years allowed me to travel, interact and work with a wide cross section of the Indian population, leaving me with a sense of wonder at the richness of our cultural diversity and sensitizing me to the chasms in our socio-economic fabric. Today, these learnings inform my work as an artist in a great way. 

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The dichotomy of my practice over the years is a reflection of my own reality. One half is a product of my past and the other is a celebration of my present. 

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The graphite works draw from my personal experiences with abuse within my childhood home while also touching upon the larger patterns of oppression that I witnessed during my years practicing architecture out in the field. Over time I have leaned more unabashedly into the narrative of child abuse. The upcoming works in this series delve into the less spoken matter of male victimhood that is largely underreported. Into these works I have woven dried leaves from my garden, fragments of lived memories of a child from decades ago, who took refuge in a tiny balcony, watching the sunlight travel across the trees as the birds tenderly nested and fed their young.

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My oil paintings are rooted in my present. They embrace the passage of time and the constancy of change. They suspend the viewer in the present moment, to enjoy the beauty in the mundane... the change of seasons, the movement of sunlight through the day and the motion of life coursing through my city. These paintings are a meditation on the fleeting ‘now’. They embrace all facets of the human experience, both pain and joy. I have sought to develop a visual quality that evokes nostalgia while defying any chronological categorization. The red tints, while being reminiscent of old monotone prints, are also a subtle commentary on the rose-tinted glasses of privilege.

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Having experimented with multiple materials, I now work primarily with graphite, oil paint and organic materials. I like to push these old mediums, modifying traditional techniques to modern surfaces and thereby creating new outcomes. Much like I did when I practiced vernacular sustainable architecture.