Confluence Sangam at Heidelberger Kunstverein Germany from 19 June 2020

Hyderabad-based artist Varunika Saraf, alongside specialists Nadira Husain and Amina Ahmed, to be a part of the ‘Confluence-Sangam’  at Heidelberger Kunstverein, Germany 'Intersection Sangam', a distinguished art showcase event slated to begin on June 19 at Heidelberger Kunstverein (The Heidelberg Art Society), one of Germany's most seasoned craftsmanship affiliations.

On view will be the fine arts of Hyderabad-based Varunika Saraf alongside Nadira Husain who partitions her time between Berlin and Paris, and US-based Amina Ahmed. Juncture will have the three women specialists investigating a mélange of procedures that interface the past with the present.

Varunika recalls the underlying discussions with Nadira in late 2019: “We weren’t sure of the direction this show was likely to take. But we found a few commonalities in our views towards art and the world. Nadira’s paternal family hails from Hyderabad and she uses kalamkari and ikat in her work.”

Soon, Amina went along with them and the trio got a gesture from Heidelberger exhibition hall, known for its non-business way to deal with craftsmanship.

Two days before Varunika had intended to send her works of art, the COVID-19 lockdown became effective in India. There was vulnerability until the lockdown was lifted; only after the lockdown was eased, she could manage to courier her works to Germany. She could only manage to stack her pieces of part on each other and pack it in a wrapper which was litter larger than A4 size.

During the lockdown, the discussions between the specialists proceeded. The new associations and the desire for a great craftsmanship exhibit, gave Varunika something to anticipate, in an otherwise somber situation. She recollects, “One tends to feel isolated as an artist, more so during a pandemic. It was reassuring to know that fellow artists had faith in me.”

Varunika is set to display her 16 artworks in her series named ‘Caput Mortuum’, through which she connects the past and the present, to feature political and social issues, especially the ascent of viciousness in South Asia. ‘Caput Mortum’ translates to ‘dead head’ in Latin, in alchemic term it denotes ‘worthless remains’. It is the buildup at the base of the warming flask after different components are sublimated.

She utilized a brownish red base shade in her watercolor, which attempts to suggest the 'dead head' shading that seeps through lush, verdant green surface, the 'worthless remains' or wounds of the past leaking through the splits of time to shape our present. She does this through a style that reworks Mughal miniatures.

She often portrays in her art works the brutality against the underestimated in the public eye, and this is drawn from her great observation and skill of relating history with current affairs.

She occasionally applies the techniques of appliques, dyeing, embroidery, and block-printing.

 Expounding on how the art world has been tolerating the obscurity between fine arts and craft technique in the last decade in India, she said, ”Women artists have been at the forefront of blurring to the divide between craft and art”, alluding to the situation that rose during the 1960s and 70s in the US and accordingly in India. Likewise, on view will be her 2016 work, a self-portrait motivated by a watercolor painting done by Inayat Khan for Emperor Jahangir.