Express News Service
CHENNAI: As Madras turned 381 on Saturday and celebrated a quiet birthday with restrictions, artists expressed their love for this heritage-rich city with colours and creativity. They have been singing praises of the city through typographs, illustrations, postcards, poetry, photo series. One initiative that kept the spirits high for this year’s Madras Day even in the ongoing pandemic is #MadrasInspired by Nam Veedu, Nam Oor, Nam Kadhai.
The eight-year-old campaign brought together four artists, two poets and a photographer to pay their artistic tributes to the city. One among them is Srishti Prabakar. The architecture student’s 31-day series, Anchored Hues, explores the myriad hues of Madras — one day at a time. Since August 1, she has posted over 20 shades ranging from MS blue, post–office red, olive green, rickshaw yellow, candy pink, and more. At 8.39 pm, every night, Srishti holds a live session on her Instagram page Anchored Hues. Architect Thirupurasundari Sevvel from Nam Veedu, Nam Oor, Nam Kadhai joins in, and the duo discusses objects associated with that specific colour and its relevance to the city.
“I don’t restrict myself to generic colours. Take ‘Aavin’ blue for instance. It’s something the locals can associate with. You find nameboards in nooks and crannies of every street in that shade. It also resembles the seablue colour that reminds us of beaches along the ECR or Royapuram Harbour decked with fishing boats. Another colour is rust — the shade of red conjures up images of Government Museum in Egmore, a ship anchor, anything to do with bricks, and antique.
People share their personal associations , memories and trivia with a particular shade during live sessions,” explains Srishti. Scroll down her Instagram page and you can treat your eyes to elegant artworks that beautifully capture the essence of the theme. “People instantly connect with colours. I don’t plan the objects after choosing the colour for the day. Everything is drawn spontaneously based on what people recall in live sessions. This also keeps it interactive.
Once, I painted with black and white, people recalled the ambassador car, Bharathiyar, spectacles, Gandhi, roads, films…anything vintage. They relive their memories through these colours, and this applies to all the colours,” she shares, adding that she plans to wrap up her series on August 31.
Every artist who is part of this initiative has a distinct way of cherishing their bond with the city. Smruthi Badri pens poems on her memories associated with areas in the city on her Instagram page Positive Knots; Arivukkarasi Manivannan writes Tamil poetry on her page Aazhi Writes; Prathyaksha Prasad illustrates landmarks on her page Project Ekarikthin; Architect Akshaya Ramakrishnan does watercolour sketches to document the different waterways in the city on her page Archfolio; and Varsha Sriram does a typography series on all things Chennai on her page under her name. “Our common and sole purpose is to repay the gratitude to the city that showed us a path to live. We want to support each other in this collaborative effort and take it to greater heights,” says Srishti. For details, visit Instagram page: Anchored Hues
Source: https://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/chennai/2020/aug/25/madras-in-myriad-hues-2187708.html
