If you see beauty in the incomplete and value simplicity — then the exhibition titled: Bit by Bit, featuring Avani Rao Gandra’s works at Iconart gallery, Banjara Hills, is for you. The paintings made throughout the pandemic are expressionist-abstract works inspired by the elements of nature that embrace the damage caused to us during the pandemic. Most elements tell a story of damage and repair, emotions captured during and post-pandemic. “It is the damage that we are carrying further. We have grown bold and beautiful, so the damage of pandemic is nothing to be disguised, there is history attached to it, and shows transformation,” says Avani Rao. The artist began the series on environmental consciousness three years ago, depicting natural elements and landscapes. “During the pandemic, we lost many things, but a few things remained. The title Bit by Bit is an organic and symbolic one, it helped us reimagine the world in its simplicity. It depicts the side of the pandemic when landscapes opened up and people slow down, to seek joy in simple things such as nature’s gifts, sunsets, and birds,” says she. The artist says the painting of a turtle carrying a baby turtle on it is closest to her heart. “This painting tells us symbolically that, we are over it. We are moving forward, but we don’t know where. The baby turtle will survive on the mother’s back, but the mother would never know what kind of life it will go through,” said the artist.
Most of Avani Rao’s paintings are large-sized, some of them 8-10 feet tall. She makes her own medium to get the texture she desires. She also has intentionally shown the wear and tear in the saying to us that a pandemic is something to remember, something to value, and something that makes us believe that we are strong.