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How Kalakriti Art Gallery creates cultural spaces that are both contemplative and inclusive
In this photo essay from Hyderabad, we showcase a range of artworks and curator insights.
Launched in 2014, PhotoSparks is a weekly feature from YourStory, with photographs that celebrate the spirit of creativity and innovation. In the earlier 885 posts, we featured an art festival, cartoon gallery. world music festival, telecom expo, millets fair, climate change expo, wildlife conference, startup festival, Diwali rangoli, and jazz festival.
Hyderabad’s Kalakriti Art Gallery recently hosted two exhibitions titled Windows to the Gods and Echoes Within. They featured the works of 15 artists, spanning a wide array of styles and themes (see our coverage of earlier exhibitions at Kalakriti here).
“Echoes Within was conceived as a reflective space—one where internal dialogues, memories, and emotional landscapes take visual form. The vision was to bring together artists whose practices delve into the personal yet resonate universally,” curator Ruchi Sharma tells YourStory.
Each work in the exhibition reveals a fragment of the inner world: contemplative, unresolved or cathartic. “The show was fulfilled through this collective chorus of introspection,” she adds.
“The distinct voices of each artist formed a shared rhythm. This allowed viewers to find echoes of their own experiences within the silence of the works,” Sharma describes.
The works of featured artists Giridhara Gowd and Sachin Jaltare are showcased in the other exhibition, Windows to the Gods. “Considering the human body as a step ladder, Gowd attempts to establish the possibility of slowly raising the self to transcend to the higher self,” art critic Ashrafi Bhagat describes in the curatorial notes. Ruchi Sharma
Gowd’s work shows engagement with the textual traditions of Indian art heritage, iconography, symbology, and sculptural elements from historical temples. “The painting style bears strong similarities to the Mysore and Tanjore styles,” Bhagat observes.
“As a contemporary artist, Gowd has brought in changes in the medium dependent on the subject he chooses to paint. This relates to the type of paper, the natural colours, binding medium, and the tools he has utilised,” Bhagat says.
Hyderabad-based artist Sachin Jaltare leverages dense fine lines in his works. This imparts an aura of mystery, a ploy cleverly used by the artist to draw the viewer into the heart of his composition, according to Bhagat.
“With an eye to balance the positive and negative spaces, Jaltare has created the balance of energies that exists in the universe as yin and yang, positive and negative, or Shiva-Shakti,” Bhagat explains.
The suffused inner light, integral to Jaltare’s composition, is magical rather than dramatic. “It is not possible to turn away from his work after a glance. Rather, it beckons for a closer scrutiny, thus establishing a dialogue between the paintings and the viewer,” Bhagat says.
The exhibitions were well-received by audiences. “The feedback from Echoes Within in both Delhi and Hyderabad has been incredibly encouraging,” Sharma enthuses.
“Not only did audiences connect deeply with the works, but the participating artists also expressed how thoughtfully their practices were represented within the curatorial framework,” she says.
The media, too, responded positively. “They highlighted the exhibition’s quiet intensity and the strength of emerging voices it brought together,” she adds.
“The overall reception has affirmed our intent to create spaces that are both contemplative and inclusive, resonating across viewers, makers, and critics alike,” Sharma signs off.
Now what have you done today to pause in your busy schedule and harness your creative side for a better world?
(All photographs were taken by Madanmohan Rao on location at Kalakriti Art Gallery in Hyderabad.)
