The Pillars of Artscape is a photographic installation capturing the ethos of Kala Bhavana during its first sixty years. It emanates from my innate belief that images tell a thousand tales and every image has a modest and innocent beginning, to which Shantiniketan’s very inception is a testimony.

In vignettes, nature emerges as a repertory of wisdom in this exhibition of images because Kala Bhavana have drawn lessons for humanity from our surroundings. The space that we live in, learn from and submit to for deliverance has a defining role to play in shaping our lives, an aphorism that has endeared itself to those with a Shantiniketan experience. The exhibition extends this crowning essence of existence to our times, particularly where it depicts the Kala Bhavana campus as one that has no boundaries in terms of learning, an unspoiled perspective that thrives in cross-pollinating minds. It is ‘The Family of Man’ where neither the individual, nor the institution ever hopes to be greater than its vision of keeping the mind free from wasteful tradition.

KS Radhakrishnan
Curator, Pillars of an Artscape