Finding My Place
Laxmipriya Panigrahi
My practice is vastly influenced and marked by my shift from Odisha to Delhi and personal encounters with the ever-changing cityscape, evident in my recording of minute details – both real and imagined. When I began my career as an artist, I was inspired by the Oriya temple architecture, Patta painting, and folk art.
After learning to work with watercolor, when I moved to Delhi, I began working on paper to truly explore my creativity and potential. I fuse stylistic elements drawn from miniature paintings and the traditional Patta paintings. I have developed an interest in landscape painting in Delhi where nature is abundant. But, in this city, I have also witnessed several transitions and changes in the landscape. My works are a result of both: the experience of migration from a small village in Odisha to a megacity like Delhi as well as using a kaleidoscopic palette of bright vibrant, joyous colours with miniature-like detailing. As my subject, I intend to extend my work to bring out the fact that, still life also has its own life as I find signs of life in everything around us which makes us lively.
My recent works carry a sense of conflict that is present between the man-made structures and natural structures. At the same time, it is a personal, internal journey for me to experience my own self through the act of drawing and painting. My attempt is to explore the visual language as a different medium to articulate my thoughts and then evaluate the possibilities of transforming them into work of art.
