Tripura-born artist brings visuals from the state to Delhi exhibition

Local landscape, multi-cultural identities and crafts influence Gopa Roy's work

New Delhi: It was in 2013 when Tripura-born artist Gopa Roy started experimenting with different materials for her art practice. According to her, the influences of her work are the local landscape of her hometown, its agricultural background, the harmonisation of multi-cultural identities and the crafts of the native peoples of Tripura.

“My practice is to capture, interpret, and re-present what I experience,” Roy, who now lives and works in Delhi, says. Roy holds an MFA in Santiniketan. “Nature satisfies me and enhances my soul,” she adds.

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Asked about her process of creation, she lists the steps as: Documentation, material collection (from surroundings and nature), pulp production (from natural fibers), surface making followed by implementation. These different materials and textures are also metaphors of the different geographies and realities of life in Tripura.

Now exploring with different materials and associating new-media approaches in her upcoming works, the visual artist will display some of her artworks, including drawings, paintings, and mix media, in a solo exhibition titled, ‘Existence’ in Triveni Kala Sangam, Delhi. It is curated by Masuka Gupta. The exhibition runs till April 9.

This exhibition explores the creative practice of Gopa, working with the diverse concepts and circumstances enduring beyond the conventional medium of art. The journey of her works navigates among the vivid dimensions of the material and its process of understanding.

The use of cow dung, soil, earth colours, watercolour, jute, rice flour is creating new possibilities in visual art practices. Roy’s practice heralds the breakthrough towards the long-standing conventions in craft and modern art representations — combining both experimenting with resources and emphasising the realms of socio-political or personal experiences.

The pursuit of Roy’s works is the anecdote of exploring her origin State Tripura, which is endowed with the incredible beauty of nature and unique traditions, that offers her experimenting with the materiality of nature, by exploring numerous textures, patterns, shapes, and colours.