Aruna Apte's Home Page

Artist Statement on "Heritage" (Current Work)

As I grow older and as more time passes by being away from my native country, I notice that my heritage plays a major role in my spiritual and emotional being. My day-to-day life is consumed with mathematics and in this logical setting there is no room for sensual outbursts. However, being an artist is an integral part of my life.

I am so grateful for that since it has provided me with satisfying outlet to share these spiritual and emotional experiences. The nostalgic memories of the cascading rains of monsoon after a long hot summer in Bombay, colorful sarees blowing in the wind at a village fair, the rhythmic beats of a drum at a local temple, patriotic songs sung by the school children on the independence day, my father telling me stories from the great books of Ramayana and Mahabharat are some of the few that have influenced my work.

After my encounter with the graceful rhythmic movements of Indian classical dance-form and renderings of the same in charcoal, for a few years I was consumed with research in mathematics. Few years back in one of my trips to India I was brought in contact with all the memories that had haunted me. Returning to the childhood home where I still felt my late father's presence brought back all the memories. Visits to the historic forts charged me with patriotic feelings. The palaces of the Rajput kings and their martyr queens moved me to tears. The innocent but blind faith of the people that made no sense to my logical mind intrigued my spirit. But most importantly the people from the historic past have inspired the desire to paint and tell their story. This is the genesis of the current series of paintings.

I have rendered these experiences on canvas. The traces of memories appear as pieces of paper that are parts of miniature paintings and old texts. When I paint, history comes to present and I am transpired to a different world. The characters from those events tell me their story. I try to transcribe it on the canvas.

One of the paintings 'Jai Bhavani' is about Maratha Warriors. It was the era of Mogul dynasty. The Maratha people were suffering. One Maratha family rose to the occasion and with the help of a few established a Maratha kingdom. Their orange colored flag represented freedom from the tyranny of the Moguls. The painting depicts the warriors trampling over the script of the Moguls, script that represents the Moguls themselves.

In the similar era the proud Rajput kings were also fighting the tyranny of Mogul dynasty. In the eminent fall of the fort the men folk would leave the fort to defend, preferring death to defeat. Without the soldiers to defend them the women, fearing the captivity from the Moguls and the abuse that would follow, used to sacrifice themselves in a bonfire inside the palace. This story is rendered in the painting titled 'Johar'.

Such stories are plentiful and they are inspiring to one and all. I did not set out to tell their stories when I started to paint after my visits to India. Yet every time I would paint, these renderings just happened. What intrigues me, as a trained mathematician is that there is no logical explanation for what I have created. Yet it all makes sense to me as an artistic mathematician, more so than a mathematical artist.