Everyday is a Holiday Somewhere
Divya Pandey
My work is a visual diary through which I think, tell stories or respond to mythical narratives. As a result, my paintings evolve into narratives with astute amalgamation of mythical, personal symbols and metaphors. In these narratives, I try to depict certain poetic moments addressing one’s intellectual and emotional conflicts which would lead to an exploration of the self. Or sometimes, my paintings would expose a sudden, unpredictable speech or a deafening scream inside one’s head.
My daily journal entries chronicle the changing nature of my experiences, emotions, thoughts and observations. The spontaneous process of depicting these experiences and feelings is visible in my drawings and free flowing coffee washes that create the surface of the works. I try to demonstrate the layered nature of image-making on handmade paper with watercolors, gouache, ink and gold foil. Drawing from my surroundings and memories, the figurative representations in my paintings explore the concept of the self and human nature.
In this particular series, Everyday is a Holiday Somewhere I attempt to capture the habit of ‘gossiping’. The modern human beings are caught up in an intellectual prison of their own making and their minds have been heavily deluded into false notions of life. The intellectuals and well-wishers, sometimes look like headless animals, talking and discussing their views endlessly where nobody is listening to each other when they gossip. The faceless figures are carriers of their musings and do not depict any particular identity. The effect of gossiping is really interesting where things are decorated and presented forward. At a time, we get so much involved into it and forget our human nature and start behaving like animals. My work depicts this transformation of human beings that is so much part of our everyday living.
