Cut-paste heart

The workshops include interactive sessions

Cooped up at home and isolated from dear ones, this year has been all about facing our feelings. But sometimes, it can be difficult to find the right words to express ourselves, says city-based analog collage artist Kanika Agarwal. It can be helpful, instead, to visualise those thoughts, find their echo in letters, words and images in newspaper articles, magazine pages, medicine bills, order invoices, manuals, and turn them into a collage, explains the artist, who is hosting a workshop revolving around the art form, titled Sing songs of the self.

The self-taught artist, who has been practising this form of collage-making for over five years, tells us that the medium can help portray a lot that's on our minds. "I have always been a visual person and tried different mediums to express my feelings till I discovered collage. I realised that it helped me understand myself better," she adds. Agarwal has since then organised several workshops in small batches of six to seven participants and even showcased her artworks at exhibitions.

Remember how we made collages on scrapbooks in school? Agarwal shares that the workshops are a grown-up version of that, except here, the possibilities are endless - you can use any kind of paper medium. "‌Collage or assemblage is a cut-and-paste craft. ‌My brief to participants is to think about themselves, visualise their thoughts, and then use their experiences to build art," she elaborates. This, in turn, helps them find clarity, build intuition and gain confidence in themselves. "I've seen how those experiencing heartbreaks and anxiety channel those feelings into beautiful art. It can be therapeutic," she asserts.

Considering this year has been difficult for most of us, Agarwal decided to continue her workshops online. "I have one-on-one conversations with the participants and guide them." And all you need are a few magazines, newspapers, scissors, glue and blank sheets of paper. "In Hindi it is said, ‘Apna gun gana nahi chahiye,' which means don't blow your trumpet. But I feel we all should, especially now, look inward and sing songs of the self," she says, adding that the workshop is a step in that direction.

On: December 6, 4 pm
Log on to: insider.in
Cost: Rs 299

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