The Dotwalk Ajitara Art Residency (DAAR) focuses on a pool of talented emerging artists who are seeking opportunities, mentorship, guidance, exhibition spaces, and exposure in the ever-evolving world of contemporary art. 

Nestled within the serene expanse of the Ajitara family’s farmhouse, Dotwalk Ajitara Art Residency provides an unparalleled haven for artistic exploration, far removed from the bustling cityscape. The residency offers dedicated studio spaces, co-working spaces, spacious bedrooms, a recreation room with audio and video facilities, a library, and a fully functional kitchen with pre-fixed menus.

Gallery Dotwalk at its core is a space that looks to foster artistic exploration by bringing together diverse individuals and disciplines, in hope that this in turn would result in community-building and engagement, and create a knowledge-sharing environment. It is just with this vision in mind that Gallery Dotwalk has undertaken the first edition of the DAAR.

Beginning on May 19, 2024, the inaugural edition is now in session. The first batch of the DAAR residency, namely, Deepa Kumawat, Souvik Majumdar, Rija Kalita, Mehak Garg, Satyabhama Majhi, Sruthi Sivakumar, and Druvaraj NV are settled in and are meditating, ideating, working, sharing knowledge, and creating.

We invite you to engage with their practice as they work towards an annual exhibition that the residency culminates into. 

Deepa Kumawat completed her BFA from College of Fine Arts, Trivandrum. Their practice is based in their endless fascination with oral story-telling traditions of Rajasthan, history, Jaipur, and Amber. The town of Amber, in the face of rapid urbanisation, became depopulated as the people moved to cities. Similarly, they are a witness as the old city in Jaipur becomes riddled with abandoned houses. In their works, Kumawat traces both the shrouded mystical air lended to these sites in the face of abandonment due to urbanisation, and the visual elements of these landscapes as excavated archeological sites. 

Kolkata-based artist and educator Souvik Majumdar completed his MFA in Interdisciplinary Art Practice from Shiv Nadar University and a BFA in Painting from The Indian College of Arts and Draftsmanship. His practice explores various mediums, including video, photography, painting, drawing, and sound, allowing him to investigate fundamental questions about consciousness, sexuality, and identity. He is interested in the self and its fashioning through technology, especially filters and algorithms. He has received notable recognition for his work, having been awarded the CCRT Young Artist scholarship from 2010 to 2015, and he was selected for several prestigious art projects and exhibitions. 

His work has been featured in various national and international venues, such as the Serendipity Art Festival in Goa, the International Meeting on Video-Dance and Video Performance in Valencia, Spain, and the ESMoA Video Art + Film Festival. He was also part of the TikTok Digital Residence at IN-SONORA Festival, Spain.

In her works Assam-based artist Rija Kalita uses material to create works that are a reminder of home that is changing rapidly in the face of development and urbanisation. While undergoing her formative training during her BVA in Sculpture, Kalita worked with materials like clay. However, during the pandemic, with less access to formal materials, she began exploring usage of materials that are more readily available. Her works, reminiscent of her home, are created with materials like vegetable fibre, and found objects. Kalita’s curiosity of the world around her often leads her to objects and materials that inspire and inform her practice. 

Mehak Garg completed her BFA from Amity University, and her MFA from College of Fine Arts, Kerala. Her practice explores the psychological and emotional aspects of human existence, giving form to intangible feelings and experiences.  Her works are concerned with the interplay of closeness, and detachment in human relationships. In her practice she contemplates on the relationship between the human psyche and physical spaces inhabited by people, and its impact on human relationships. She is currently living and practising in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.

Satyabhama Majhi is an artist from Bhubaneswar, Odisha practising in various mediums like painting, installation art, sculpting and photography. Through these mediums, she explores themes of growing urbanisation, and looks at gatherings in these changing landscapes. She has been working with indigenous communities to understand their traditions and ways of lives. She uses her experiences in these different settings to create works that juxtapose these lifestyles. She was a recipient of state award of Lalita Kala Academy, Odisha in 2012. Currently, she is working with NGOs like Gram Vikas & Tata trust to develop child education in Odisha.

Kerala-based Sruthi Sivakumar has completed her MFA with a specialisation in painting from RLV College of Music and Fine Arts, Thrippunithura. Their practice is based on their interest in nature and the relationship humans share with it. Coming from a state that boasts of its lush forests, they are also fascinated by knowledge that one can build through living surrounded by thriving natural ecosystems. These interests manifest themselves in their works through studies of materials and forms that are naturally available. Sivakumar is continuously in search of new mediums.

 

Coming from the village of Thavidisseri in Payyanur, Druvaraj NV grew up at a boarding school away from home. Completing his BFA in Painting from Govt. College of Fine Arts, Thrissur, and his MFA in Painting from College of Fine Arts, Thiruvananthapuram, Druvaraj has spent a considerable amount of time away from home. Over the years, as Druvaraj returned home for holidays and such, he was able to witness the landscape of his home change over time. He noticed small changes every visit which eventually mean a landscape transformed with the passage of time. In his works, Druvaraj creates landscapes with the theme of time intricately woven into them. These works are set against the backdrop of new urbanism. 

 

The residency programme culminates into an annual exhibition  titled “Transient Terrains”, curated by Premjish Achari. This exhibition  invites artists to embark on a transformative journey, delving into the transient landscapes of their creative process. 

We look forward to engaging with the works created by these artists during the residency.

 

 

Click here to know more about the Dotwalk Ajitara Art Residency.