City's best, in pen and ink

Bengaluru-based filmmaker and visual artist M S Prakash Babu prefers to let his work do all the talking. He has been associated with the world of art and cinema for as long as he can remember.

Currently, faculty at Srishti Institute of Art, Design and Technology, Prakash's latest set of portraits is part of the design school's contribution to the Bangalore Central University. Prakash worked on the curation with Naga Nandini (in charge of exhibition design), Mary Jacob and poet Mamta G Sagara.

Bangalore University has now been divided into three parts -- Jnana Bharathi, Bangalore North and Bangalore Central University.

"There are now 200 colleges under Bangalore Central University and Srishti Institute of Art, Design and Technology is one of them. This is Srishti's tribute to those who at some point were associated with Bangalore University and contributed to our cultural and intellectual life," explains Prakash. The series features early 20th century names such as B L Rice and BM Srikantaiah, and concludes with D R Nagaraj, the literary critic who passed away in the 1990s. "Since the Jnana Bharathi campus was too far, important events were held at the Senate Hall in Central College. This used to be an 'adda' for intellectuals. It also served as a platform for the exchange of ideas," recalls Prakash.

The series features 18 distinguished people, selected after thorough research.

"They are each credited with introducing new thoughts in their fields," says Prakash.

"The portraits were made using pen and ink, and are rich in detail. They are meant to educate, enlighten and inspire
young minds," the artist, who also paints and designs book covers, says.

"Just like how Maharaja College is important in Mysore, Bangalore University is important here. These portraits will give youngsters a glimpse of great people," Prakash says.

The gallery includes writers such as Kuvempu and Masti, educationist H Narasimhaiah, statesman C Rajagopalachari, aka Rajaji, and writer-journalist P Lankesh, who also taught at Bangalore University for many years.

Eminent people featured in series
B L Rice n Charles Waters n JG Tait n CNR Rao n C V Raman n Masti  Venkatesh Iyengar n B M Srikanthaiah n Kuvempu n Sir M Visvesvaraya
C Rajagopalachari n G P Rajarathnam n A R Krishnashastri
H Narasimhaiah n P Lankesh n Maya Rao (Kathak dancer)
Rajeshwari Chatterjee (First woman engineer from Karnataka)