"We wanted to offer a rounded experience of Meghalaya,” says Tanya Lindem, manager of Meghalayan Age: The Store, Rajiv Gandhi Handicrafts Bhawan, Connaught Place. One of the seven sisters in northeast India, Meghalaya is gifted with natural beauty, rich cultural heritage and an artisans’ community.
This store was launched in December last year, hoping to promote all these facets of Meghalaya in the Capital. “We started this programme to identify craftspersons and offer them support. We realised that the art was also an integral part of Meghalayan culture,” says Dr. Vijay Kumar D, Commissioner and Secretary, Planning Department, Government of Meghalaya, and the managing director of The Meghalayan Age Limited.
The store unveiled its first art exhibition titled ‘Tales from the Lake: A Plein Air Art Exhibition’, on Friday. This exhibition will continue till March 31 and features artworks created during the Winter Tales Festival, 2021—a platform to engage with the local community through music, food, art, and crafts.
Artistic ideas
The Winter Tales Festival—it was organised by Dak_ti Craft, a Meghalaya-based handcrafted products venture, along with Meghalaya Tourism at Shillong in December—brought together a collective of artists from different parts of Meghalaya to interpret the festival and its venue, Ward’s Lake. “Meghalaya, for some people is a place of culture, for some nature, and for others, it is her people. This exhibition captures it all,” says Kumar.
The exhibition features seven diverse artistic minds, who use different types of ‘Plein Air’ techniques, a French art practice of painting landscapes outdoors, for their works.
Cultural connect
While some artists focused on nature, there were others who dabbled in portraiture. Shillong-based street artist Randell Nongkhlaw’s painting, ‘Kong Mona Shisha’ stands out in the assortment. He offers a homage to one of the most iconic paintings in the world, ‘Mona Lisa’ by Italian painter Leonardo da Vinci. Attempting to transcend cultural barriers, he dons the famous Mona Lisa in Khasi attire against the backdrop of Ward’s Lake.
Abstract artist Rahul Surong’s untitled artwork of Ward’s Lake is peppered with brushstrokes of red, black, and white instead of the oft-used green and blue. He says he kept the painting open to interpretation, and mentions that since the time he painted it, he seems to find a different aspect to it everyday.
In comparison to Surong’s abstraction is Growfield Lyngdoh Nonglait’s work of Ward’s Lake. Enclosed in a lightbulb, the landscape is an imaginative reflection of the Ward’s Lake’s footbridge that resembles the living root bridge in Nongrait, East Khasi Hills.
“The previous wooden bridge at Ward’s Lake had been destroyed during an earthquake in 1887. This root bridge has the ability to last for years,” says Nonglait. Along with the artworks, which are for sale, the store is also launching their range of Lakadong Turmeric and Wild Forest Honey that will be available at both the store and their official website.
CHECK THIS OUT
WHAT: Tales from the Lake: A Plein Air Art Exhibition
When: Till March 31, Monday to Saturday, 11am to 7pm
Where: Meghalayan Age: The Store, Rajiv Gandhi Handicrafts Bhawan, Connaught Place