Solitary strokes

Barbara Gavezotti from Bergamo, Italy; Jampa Monlam Topgyal from New York and Prayuj Velip from Goa. Pics/@kedar_dk on instagram

What happens when all of this ends? Do we step out and embrace the world the same way we used to, or do we head out with a renewed sense of loss, hope and being? These questions have surfaced in many minds time and again - not only because we want to look forward to another day but also because questioning now is a more natural instinct that ever before.

Staying indoors has led to different experiences for everyone and loneliness has entered our lives in various ways; it need not be the absence of physical presence but just the sheer departure from the "normal" routine. It is this sense that is effectively rendered in graphite drawings on paper in Goan artist Kedar Dhondu's project Lonely Residents, as part of Sunaparanta Goa Centre for the Arts' Surviving SQ (Self Quarantine), curated by Leandre Dsouza where artists share creative coping strategies during this unpredictable time.

Kedar Dhondu

On March 25, Dhondu reached out to his followers on social media and asked them to send an image of their time indoors with a few lines on how time passes. He ended up receiving entries from all around the world: artist Subodh Kerkar from Goa said the lockdown provided him a space for uninterrupted creativity; Fumie Kobayashi from Japan spoke about the bliss of walking on green grass by tiny flowers; Barbara Gavezotti from Bergamo, Italy, the epicentre of the virus outbreak in the nation, addressed how the pandemic has erased generations. Dhondu then picked up his pencil, made sketches of these images he received and posted it on social media.

He was prompted to start this project because of a personal setback he experienced. "One of my projects was supposed to be exhibited in Milan this April. It has now been postponed to 2021. I thought of making these portraits because I felt that they might feel good to see a drawing of themselves. But this is also a self-reflective process for them. They might see the image and wonder, 'Am I making the best possible use of this time?' The underlying motive of this is, thus, to help people realise the possibilities of living indoors," he shares, over a phone call from his studio in Santa Cruz, Panjim.

Having received 30 entries so far, Dhondu has worked on 20. These graphite sketches will then be painted in, with watercolours, the artist's primary medium. "If I started painting directly, I would take a lot more time to share their pieces. I expect this second-half of the process to be completed in about three months as each artwork will take me a week to paint over," he informs.

When asked about how this project will take shape post the lockdown, Dhondu says he hopes to delve into artworks that reflect how people are coping with the post-pandemic world; "It will be nice to have two parts to this story. I'm yet to decide on the specifics of it but the second part will happen."

Log on to sunaparanta_goa on Instagram and Sunaparanta - Goa Centre for the Arts' page on Facebook (new drawings by Dhondu will be on view every Wednesday)
Message 9689731459 (on WhatsApp to submit your images by May 6)

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