Invisible Landscape

Recently I had the privilege to visit an art exhibition held at ICCR, Kolkata - named Invisible Land by painter Madhuchanda Majumder. This is part of a series of exhibition held by Calcutta Arts Club in various parts of the world and they only engage emerging artists, unsung heroes in all their exhibitions.

Invisible Land is a theme where the artist has drawn landscapes which do not exist in reality. She visits several places and spreads the wings of her imagination to feel what the landscape could have been in that place.  Her art explores color through many new shades, sometimes the sky has turned dark red and many a times the green tree has slowly turned into or has led to pale blue leaves. As if she wants to convey or capture the changing hues of existence through different passage of time. Most of the paintings had lot of open spaces signifying the presence of emptiness in every sphere of our existence. A sort of numbness in the most animated part of our lives.

There was conspicuous sadness or void in all her work. The riot of colors could not suppress the melancholy of losing your own innocent self. Like you throw a stone in the bed of a still river and you see the ripples getting slowly diminished over time, and the noise you wanted in your life turned into silent ripples and die.

I feel, city life makes people the silent ripples and the noise, the ecstatic music of living slowly fades away. The simple pleasures of having a cutting chai, getting wet under a half broken old umbrella etc. everything slowly fades from one's life.

And we all keep on painting an invisible landscape out of our life.        

In love with a city

This is one of my most favourite bengali song from a very popular bengali movie - Antoheen. For the people who have not seen the movie - the song plays in the background on two lovers who have never seen each other, however have bonded over internet chatting. This song depicts the emptiness each lonely individual feels in a city. To that individual - the night sky and the insomniac stars are their most loyal friends with whom he can speak silently whenever he wants and share the loneliness.

He slowly grows in love with the sleepless city, its pavements, roads, the rain soaked lampposts and with its most unique and distinct smell. Imagine - how loneliness makes you love a lifeless thing like a city or roads or everything about it. When there is no human being to get close to, to open up to - its the lifeless things that becomes your most prized possession and you feel so close to it and even become sad with the nostalgia when you have to leave the city and move on with your life.

Every person falls in love with a city at least once in their lifetime and it is like the first purest and most innocent love of their life. This happens only once. You may like many cities yet your beloved city will always remain one. And if you see closely - that was the most lonely phase of your life and it was only the city which loved you back with all its heart. 

Enjoy the video and feel how love has grown between two lonely people, slowly and silently.