Kishore Singh: Beyond the myopic labels

An exhibition of paintings on the life and times of Christ has ended at the Church of Santa Monica

An exhibition of paintings on the life and times of Christ has just ended at the Church of Santa Monica, Old Goa. It had previously been shown at St Paul’s Cathedral in Kolkata and the National Gallery of Modern Art in Bengaluru, and will continue to be displayed at churches in different cities. For Madhvi Parekh, it marks a vindication of her oeuvre being considered rural (as opposed to the urban), while, in reality, it is the critics’ difficulty in slotting her that has been responsible for such ignominious labels.

But recent times have been good for the artist who has just bagged the Kailash Lalit Kala Award from the Gujarat-based trust run by Morari Bapu. Her church-based exhibitions are being particularly well received, and not just for their subject which should pose a challenge for most artists — how many versions of the Last Supper can you paint, after all? — but because of both her technique (reverse painting on acrylic, though she can surprise you with a massive painting on canvas that was on view at the National Gallery of Modern Art in the capital before being exhibited at the church in Goa) as well as the style in which she paints. 

She is described as a folk modernist, perhaps India’s only one since Jamini Roy, and has resisted any call for changes. Though she has previously painted village goddesses and Devis, her early work had a character that is the perfect expression of a young woman growing up in Gujarat without the freedom to play as she might choose. Her paintings of children playing football, or bicycling — just two instances — are examples of “imagining how wonderful it would be to have that freedom” she told me when asked about the playful, joyful nature of such works. This sense of inner exuberance in her work is one reason why a gallerist has termed her “India’s most underrated woman artist”. 

Madhvi Parekh with her work in the background

I am not sure Madhvi Parekh would delight in being portrayed as a “woman” artist, though she has previously shared that platform with such peers as Arpita Singh, Gogi Saroj Pal, Anjolie Ela Menon, Nilima Sheikh, Anupam Sud and Nalini Malani. But is there a sense of gender parochialism within such categorisation? There is no doubt she will be judged through that lens by art historians for times to come, however specious the argument. But she deserves to be talked about and considered in the larger context of Indian art without the convenience or crutch of labels. The recent ascription of her as a “Christian artist” is as erroneous: she can channel her inner being to paint secular as well as sacred narratives. If she has been drawn to themes of Christianity, she attributes it to the sense of peace and dignity she felt surrounded by on coming face-to-face with a statue of Christ after being transfixed by the stained-glass windows of churches on her travels West. Who is to say where her next inspiration might spring from? 

She may appear reserved and reluctant to talk about her work but Madhvi Parekh has strong views about self-expression and is more modern in her outlook than many give her credence for. She certainly champions the independence of women, insisting they be allowed the choice to lead their lives instead of being quarantined by a patriarchal society. In her own life, and her family’s, she has managed that by example. Her artistic practice, shorn off any concessions to the commerce of the market, has precisely that sense of earthy primitivism and rootedness. In times to come, scholars will expend time researching the critical space she occupies in India’s art history — that journey has just begun.
 

Kishore Singh is a Delhi-based writer and art critic. These views are personal and do not reflect those of the organisation with which he is associated