AAW #192

Happy New Year Yatris! Here’s the 192nd Ahmedabad Art Weekly to welcome 2019 with some great, innovative and creative events.

Hopeful teenage author Muskaan Shah is debuting with her highly imaginative book ‘Home in the Hill’ this week. The Ahmedabad International School student, who is launching her paperback this weekend has drafted her fiction adventures with her  Grandma while taking inspirations from the tales of Roald Dahl and Ruskin Bond. In other literary happenings, Sada Sarvada Kavita is back this week with a fantastic poetic line-up. The poetry recital will feature various rhymesters including luminaries of literature industry like playwright Madhu Rye and Gujarati poet Harshad Trivedi. Gujarat Vishvakosh Trust and Matrubhasha Abhiyaan are inviting Amdavadis to participate in a peaceful walk towards Sabarmati Ashram.

India’s largest handicraft exhibition, the Exim Bazaar is coming to the city of Ahmedabad. The three-day long festival will host more than 60 artisans and craftsmen who will be coming from more than 23 different provinces to exhibit their fashionable accessories, arts and handicraft materials. The second such mega event that is taking place during the week is the International Kite Festival 2019. The almost three-decade-old celebration augments the Uttarayana fever each year by inviting hundreds of kite flyers from various corners of the world to fly their innovatively shaped kites at the banks of Sabarmati River.

The Envisioning Asia exhibition at Satya Art Gallery is an intriguing art happening. The show is hosting numerous pictures of India’s father of the nation Mahatma Gandhi & father of the People’s Republic of China Mao Zedong, which were clicked by photojournalist Walter Bosshard during his visits to India and China. Each picture at the show has been exhibited for the first time in India, and they shed new light on the political ongoing in both the nations during the 1940s. Another visually appealing happening in Ahmedabad that shouldn’t be missed out is The Abstract Aesthetic group art exhibition at 079 Stories. The show is hosting numerous abstract artworks by eight conceptual artists of India, including Padma Shri Paresh Maity.

The open to air theatre space of Scrapyard is inviting performing arts adorers to witness the Promise of Heaven play this week. The “strictly adult” sarcastic play is based on the life of two terrorists, who are now embarking on their life’s final journey. The third edition of Farmer’s Market is inviting the audience to relish a gastronomic experience. Visitors can expect some locally grown food made by trained food artisans in a fun-loving environment full of soulful music.

The inspiration of our 192nd Ahmedabad Art Weekly has been borrowed from cartoonist and illustrator Bansilal Verma, dotingly remembered with his pennames Chakor, Bansi and Kishor Vakil. Born in Chotiya village in Mehsana, young Verma was highly influenced by the paintings of Raja Ravi Verma and enjoyed drawing deities before coming under the tutelage of Kalaguru Ravishankar Raval. Verma became a part of the Indian Independence Movement by creating posters and cartoons, and he later contributed in publications like  Navsaurashtra, Hindustan, Janmabhoomi, The Free Press Journal, Janshakti and for his final years in Sandesh. His satirical cartons on politics were highly influential, and he received several awards during his career including Ravishankar Raval Award by the state government, Kamalashankar Pandya Award and Vadnagar Nagrik Sanman.