Art Onsite

Art Onsite by Pranav Prakash

June–July 2021
A Public Exhibition supported by Public Space One (PS1) and Iowa City Downtown District
Venue: 16 South Clinton Street, Iowa City, US

Witness
Ink painting on acid free paper | © 2025 Pranav Prakash

I grew up in a town that was notorious for murders and kidnappings. We were used to watching the spectacle of violent deaths in silence. Fear silences people. Silence kills people.

Puruṣa
Ink painting on acid free paper | © 2025 Pranav Prakash

Hindu apologists like to defend themselves against the charges of patriarchy by quoting a verse from Manusmṛti (3.56): “Wherever women are worshiped, Gods reside there. Where they are not worshiped, nothing ever comes to fruition there.” In addition to suffering from this “Goddess-on-the-pedestal” syndrome, Hindu men believe that it is a man’s birthright to exercise absolute power and control over his wife’s body. This painting grapples with the plight of women in Hindu societies.

Storytelling
Ink painting on acid free paper | © 2025 Pranav Prakash

My mother is a skilled storyteller. She hails from a Maithili-speaking background. Maithili-speaking people refer to their homeland as “Mithilā.” Maithil women like to tell stories and folktales. This painting recreates the ambience of some of their folktales.

A Window of One's Own
Handmade paper | © 2025 Pranav Prakash

These handmade paper leaves are made up of abaca and almond skin. The abaca pulp was couched in the shape of window panels that are found in rural huts and suburban houses in South Asia. Dry flakes of almond skin were scattered on the couched pulp to create diverse imagery within the window panels. On the completion of the almond skin imagery, the freshly made paper was air dried. Window panels often reflect the social and economic conditions prevailing inside the house. Each window has a story to tell.

Kālī Against Corruption
Mithilā painting on acid free paper | © 2025 Pranav Prakash

This Mitihilā painting (also known as Madhubanī painting) is my tribute to Baūā Devī, who is one of the greatest artist of this genre in India. The painting depicts Goddess Kālī, who is the fiercest embodiment of women power (shakti) in the Hindu pantheon. Like the demons of Hindu mythology, corrupt politicians are committing crime and genocide in different parts of India today. Will Kālī destroy these demons?

Resist
Ink painting on acid free paper | © 2025 Pranav Prakash

This experimental calligraphic piece exhorts us to fight against the oppression, discrimination and inequality in our society. The Sanskrit verse that appears on the top-right and bottom-left of the painting was composed by Bhartṛhari in the 5th century CE. To stir the ethical conscience of his community, the poet asks, “A crystal—despite being lifeless—blazes when struk by the rays of sun. How can bright people stand idly when others commit rampant atrocities?” The Qur’ānic expression that has been calligraphed on the bottom-right and top-left of the painting expression reminds us that human endeavors are fruitful only when one “believes in truth and in patience.”

Enrapture
Ink painting on acid free paper | © 2025 Pranav Prakash

This painting depicts two Indian musicians engrossed in their music. The interplay of tradition and modernity is conspicuous in most classical music performances in India today. My painting reflects on the subjectivity of artists and performers, who reinvent traditional forms for newer audiences and technologies.

Siyāhī Qalam
ink painting on acid free paper | © 2025 Pranav Prakash

This painting reflects on the lives of scribes and their relationship with book arts and nature. The condition of Indian book artists—bookbinders, papermakers, scribes, calligraphers and the like—could not be direr. My painting grapples with the everyday realities and experiences of scribal communities in South Asian societies.