'Epoch 2020' by Shelly Jyoti brings forth the relevance of Gandhi in the present times

In these apocalyptic times art and things of refinement have taken a backseat with explorative minds finding ways to express their inner thoughts from the confines of their ivory towered quarantines. Collaborations, co creations and hand crafted works have become the biggest impossibilities.

Turning this distressing time into a positive expression Shelly Jyoti a visual/textile artist, fashion designer, poet and an independent curator has brought forth “Epoch 2020: Relevance of Gandhi in present tense’. Collaborating with IGNCA, she is presenting a virtual show of her art on paper created in response to the, “Lived experience of the unprecedented times of the deadly Coronavirus which posed psychic, existential and spiritual questions exposing the limits of modernity.”

Opening virtually on October 29 at 5:30 pm across all handles of IGNCA, the inaugural ceremony presents the art of ‘Ajrakh’ as recreated on paper by Shelly Jyoti. While a host of thinkers and speakers capture the ideas of the time and the relevance of Gandhi with their words and views.

The artist explores two questions. Firstly, as what is time and its temporality through iconology of time and metaphors, that render time in visual form. Her second inquiry is: What do pictures mean in their ability to explain present times as well as historically?

Jyoti revisits her own collection of decades of work that she refers to as "timelessness and time-binding of Gandhi’s philosophy of ‘Collective consciousness.’ Jyoti describes the ‘Epoch 2020’ series as a “Rebirth” of her previous works translated on acid free paper and layered with mixed media that utilizes a 4500-year-old textile tradition called ‘Ajrakh’. This exhibition features 40 diptychs on paper, 20 short poems titled ‘Passage of time’, and an animated video installation titled ‘Unsettled winds’.

At the inaugural the artist has invited Shri Sachidanand Joshi, member Secretary to offer the introductory note along with Smt. Tara Gandhi Bhattacharya, Chairperson, Gandhi National Museum and HH Rajmata Shubhangini RajeGaekwad of Baroda, Chancellor, Maharaja Sayaji Rao Universtiy, Baroda.

A keynote address by Prof W.J.T Mitchell, a Gaylord Donnelley Distinguished Service Professor of English and Art History at the University of Chicago will be followed by lectures by Prof Lisa Trivedi, Chair of the History department at Hamilton College in New York, Prof Pradosh Mishra, Department of History of Arts, Benaras Hindu university, Dr. Sampadananda Mishra, Professor at Rashtram School of Public Leadership at Rishihood University, Lina Vincent, an art curator based on Goa.