by the Akar Prakar Desk

“Somewhere in the late 1940s, the artist, sat by the banks of Brahmaputra”…as the walkthrough continued, cholte cholte we stumbled across a series of rhythmic lines. Birla Academy of Art and Culture with Kiran Nadar Museum of Art with Akar Prakar as the outreach partners hosted “Ganesh Haloi Re-citations: Rhymes about Land, Water, and Sky; Six Decades of Painting”.

At 21, Ganesh Haloi took up the job of documenting the murals of Ajanta caves in the Archeological Survey of India. That time period saw most of his figurative works.

Alongside this, he started to take inspiration from the scenic beauty of the nearby villages. He looked at the mundane in people and nature, and when he tried to capture it, he realised it wasn’t possible through the rules of painting. The ordinary is so all-encompassing perhaps, that is what makes it profound and difficult to capture. The intent to capture the elementary marked his shift towards abstraction.

Ganesh Haloi, a renowned artist known for his abstract and minimalist approach, has always managed to evoke deep emotions through his works. His paintings, characterized by their intricate play of colors and forms, provide a meditative experience to the viewers. As Adam Szymczyk mentions in his essay titled The Song, not the Words– “The artist’s gaze turns inwards, tracing the eye’s memory of immediate perceptions…”

“My canvases are like the stage where each and every object gravitates to each other. Like magnets. This rhythm is akin to dance”. Prior to the exhibition Ganesh Haloi, the artist-pedagogue acquainted the Akar Prakar team with basic shapes, a triangle plotted in the contours of mountain peaks, the enchanting yet flawed circle of a bubble, and the slanted lines found in animals and plants. This concept became the cornerstone of our outreach program. Our goal was to familiarize students with these fundamental shapes as Ganesh Haloi did with ‘Cholte Cholte’: a children’s book which inspired us to create a small skit that we performed at various schools and colleges across Kolkata.

Fig 3. Ganesh Haloi at Birla Academy of Art and Culture

The Akar Prakar team consisted of a dynamic group of theatre artists and four trained guides for walkthroughs. The script of the skit was inspired by the elements of nature, where we observed our surroundings, identified fundamental shapes, and crafted a rhyme based on them. The skit was performed first at the Government College of Art and Craft, where Haloi was an alumnus himself. We moved across the city to Rabindra Bharati University, Indian College of Art, Jadavpur University, Presidency College and many more.

Fig 5. Indian College of Arts and Draftsmanship

The outreach programme had a strong educational intent. Workshops were conducted at the Birla Academy of Art and Culture alongside the performances, allowing students to engage directly with Haloi's works and the performers. These sessions provided valuable insights into the creative process, artistic techniques, and the importance of interdisciplinary approaches in art. It was a pleasure to see both students and visitors actively engaging with the performances and subsequently taking the time to visit the exhibition at the Birla Academy of Art and Culture

The workshops were designed in two phases by Likhla Lall and Kiran Nadar Museum of Art. These included movement-based sessions, creating a board with coloured fabrics to emulate the flow of the Brahmaputra, and introducing abstract art, using elements from Haloi's paintings. Students were encouraged to create their own pieces of art inspired by Haloi's style. These activities not only fostered a deeper appreciation for the arts but also allowed students to explore their creative potential.

Fig 8. Workshops being conducted by Likhla Lall, assisted by the Akar Prakar team at Birla Academy of Art and Culture

As a part of the talk series, Birla Academy of Art and Culture and Kiran Nadar Museum of Art hosted a tête-à-tête between Ganesh Haloi & Rita Bhimani as well as Avijna Bhattacharya, Associate Curator of KNMA ruminated on Ganesh Haloi’s art practice, followed by a conversation with the artist. Both the videos are linked below:

To watch it click here: Ganesh Haloi & Rita Bhimani

To watch it click here: Ganesh Haloi & Avijna

Ganesh Haloi’s Cholte Cholte: The thought behind Akar Prakar’s outreach programme

On the Originality of Printmaking

A Modern Visual Language