Exhibition by KIRTI CHANDAK
Opens on Sunday December 31st 2023 at 6.00 p.m.
Cows have been my first love!
A visit to my home town Igatpuri was always sprinkled with waking up by the mooing of the cows, going to pat them in the cowshed, play with the calves, ride the bullock cart for a picnic lunch to ‘Ghatandevi the nearby mountain goddess and so
On….
As time passed, I developed a passion for the paint brush, and the love for cows naturally came alive on my paper.
My village home had some 10 cattle reared on our farm which gave pure milk to the family, manure for the fields, and the cattle enjoyed the lush grass grown in the fields, a beautiful eco-system, which was not as simple as it sounds to run. But my parents’ passion for agriculture and cows for the well-being of all made it happen.
I would look forward to capture in a few strikes the moment of milking the cows, followed by the calf playing with its mother, became my morning and evening ragas of painting the cows, setting a rhythm to my stay, and would mark the highlight of my trips to my hometown.
Sharing works inspired by the cows. She is an epiphany of nature. If she is happy, nature is happy. If she is taken care of, our life is flowing the healthy way. To me the cow is a symbol of happy childhood, and an emblem of the harmonious rural life.
In the changed scenario, the cow moves today from the sacred and natural to the urban and polluted spaces, goes to show the degraded lifestyle. The cow is not just an animal, she is a goddess who provides milk, and life, and love and light to the earth. Gow Mata is the way she was revered in ancient India,, worshipped as a mother goddess. To rear cows, to donate cows, to feed cows is a divine blessing.
So let us take this opportunity to admire the beautiful cows
Kirti Chandak is a curator and artivist who dabbles with many mediums.
Currently, she is engaged in exploring organic materials and beautification of public spaces
