JOIN USIn an attempt to showcase the beauty of Manipuri culture in the national capital, artist L Meena Devi organised a week-long exhibition titled ‘Daughters Unplucked’ at the Annexe building of the India International Centre.
In the words of the artist, “A daughter is always considered like a blooming flower, which one never plucks. The freshness of the flower is compared to a daughter, who is soft, delicate and fragile.” Using acrylic on canvas, Devi tries her hand in showcasing the delicate femininity of the women in the multiple tribes in Manipur and how they all find and build their livelihood in such diversity.
Devi belongs to a family of seven female cousins and this was her primary inspiration behind the exhibition. The collection serves as a nostalgia wherein she acknowledges her childhood and pays her cousins a hearty tribute through her artwork. She enumerates, “I grew up at a time when life was much simpler, without any machines and technology. A few of the paintings remind me how my mother taught me and my sisters to draw and paint. So, I relive all those memories by putting them down on the canvas...”
The brightness of the colours and the semi-realistic features of the paintings are the ones that grab the maximum attention of the visitors. “I have tried to bring the element of landscape as very close to nature. In Manipur, people are very attached to nature where they love playing in the gardens and with the flowers, the trees and everything close to nature,” Devi tells Metrolife.
However, the striking aspect of the paintings is that one relates and yet feels distant from them. Devi explains, “Realistic portrayal is an entirely different subject and I didn’t want to keep very close to it. Straying away from perfection, I wanted to get into the world of imagination and dreams and play with my memories in my own semi-realistic display of emotions.”
One can’t stop admiring yet questioning Devi’s welcoming efforts in bringing northeastern culture to Delhi, the awareness for which is the need of the hour, specifically amongst the youth and the middle aged. On being asked if she wants to carry ‘Daughters Unplucked’ forward, she says, “If the people rightly comprehend the underlying notions, my mission is accomplished and I will display this collection in as many places as I can...”
Her humble attempt in making her artwork both close to reality and away from it at the same time is praiseworthy!