Artist Ritu Bhutani’s ‘Aranya’ celebrates forests and the lives they support

What do you believe a perfect early morning in a city appears like? Getting up at the first light and making a cup of tea, strolling directly to the verandah to enjoy it together with the view of green trees and birds chirping. Just, that is not the case. In a metro city like Delhi, if you ask the number of in fact enjoy this view, the response will be – just a really couple of. If you think about it, plant has actually ended up being a high-end that just a few can manage. Thanks to urbanisation and industrialisation, the forestlands are becoming a concrete jungle. The rich lands that were implied for co-existence, we, human beings, have actually so selfishly taken control of and turned them into an obnoxious mass of concrete. Have you questioned what if it attempts to battle back, declare what is truly its own?

Artist Ritu Bhutani through her current work series entitled ‘& lsquo; AranyaReclaiming the Lost Space’& rsquo;, moves the focus far from the unchecked industrialisation towards a holistic amalgam of all natural life types. It commemorates the dynamism of forests, their durability and strength and the abundant variety of life they support.

It would not be an exaggeration to state that Ritu utilizes her paintings to communicate a larger message, a message that the voiceless trees can’t, maybe, interact.

” Through my work, I have actually tried to construct a visual discourse around an alternate design of survival, one that overturns the dominant belief of financial development as the supreme marker of human success. It prevails understanding now that we are on the edge of an excellent disaster and absolutely nothing can conserve us from it unless we develop an alternate point of view of development centred on safeguarding the natural environment. The trees in these paintings symbolize nature resisting and recovering its rightful area in our environment,” ” Ritu informed India Today.

Not the branches or the leaves, however Ritu’& rsquo; s paintings are everything about the roots and trunks, the very factor for a tree’& rsquo; s presence. You can lower a tree however unless it is rooted out, it keeps discovering its method back to life.

Her paintings encapsulate the appeal of life and reveal that whatever lovely can be ruined. Ritu utilized several mediums and surface areas –– multimedias on canvas, terracotta, charcoal, gold foil, cyanotype and ink on paper –– to reveal her ideas.

Why talk about trees and attempt to catch their significance in our lives? Here, the artist discusses the beginning of the ‘& lsquo; Aranya & rsquo; series. ” This is a series which started when I went to the Andamans. What I saw there was trees in their real charm. The generous trees with their uphold roots offered me this sensation that they were attempting to declare the whole island. This is how it began and it has actually been a frustrating experience painting and imagining these,” ” she stated.

Among her paintings that mesmerized a great deal of audiences at the gallery was the one that portrays Meghalaya’& rsquo; s living root bridges. Discussing the very same, Ritu stated, “” A single ficus elastica tree forms the foundation of the living roots bridge, which was formed by the Khasi people in Meghalaya around 200 years back. The structure of the bridge is completely made from tree branches, trunks, and roots. These bridges were a motivation for this specific art work. A series was developed around this, which commemorates the durable spirit of roots and nature combating back to recover the lost area.” “

Ritu Bhutani’& rsquo; s paintings are an ideal example of ‘& lsquo; art satisfies nature’& rsquo;. If this interests you, you must head to Triveni Kala Sangam, Delhi, where her paintings are on display screen. The exhibit is on till October 27.