Inside Premalatha Seshadri's exhibition, The White House by the Sea, in Chennai

It is this proximity to the coast that gives The White House by the Sea its quiet pulse. Presented by Ashvita’s, the exhibition brings together key paintings, drawings and etchings spanning five decades of Premalatha’s practice. Each piece, like the artist herself, is grounded in observation yet shaped by the unseen.

“Visitors can see a living home that has been there for forty years and more, and a studio where I've worked on her creations,” she says. Her home, a white bungalow by the shore in Injambakkam, has become both refuge and muse.

When asked about how her relationship with the visible world has changed, she pauses before saying, “Artists internalise the sensory and transform its given shape and expression, be it traditional or avant-garde. The dimension of creativity is boundless and sensory; there are no explanations for the imagined creativity of an artistic life.”

The White House by the Sea is not intended to be a grand retrospective but an intimate glimpse into that growth. The works span from early oils to later prints and contemplative bird studies, revealing a practice that values essence over embellishment.

“I would like viewers who visit this exhibition to question everything that they see on the walls,” she urges. “What do you see? How do you see? Are you unable to address yourself to the art? React anyway.” Her invitation is not just to view but to truly perceive, to meet the works halfway in silence.

Even the exhibition’s title feels like an extension of her own story. “I am touched by this title to an art review,” she says with a smile. “Neither my name nor the name of my house has been displayed for more than forty years, where I live. Yet people find my home and my studio. Let The White House by the Sea remain a new title to my home.”

Premalatha’s art exists in that liminal space between solitude and connection, sound and silence, reality and reflection. Within the walls of Ashvita’s, it finds a temporary shore — one that invites every viewer to pause, question and see anew.

Email: shivani@newindianexpress.com
X: @ShivaniIllakiya

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