In Conversation With Rajesh Soni

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In Conversation With Rajesh Soni

Rajesh Soni is a third-generation artist from Mewar, Rajasthan, who specialises in hand-colouring and painting photographs. His grandfather, Prabhu Lal Soni (Verma), was an artist and the personal photographer of Maharana Bhopal Singh of Mewar. His skills of overpainting photographs were passed down to Rajesh through the intermediary of his father Lalit. Rajesh talks to us about his longstanding collaboration with Udaipur-based photographer Waswo X. Waswo, an outcome of a rather serendipitous meeting.

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In Conversation With Arshi Irshad Ahmadzai

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In Conversation With Arshi Irshad Ahmadzai

Arshi Irshad Ahmadzai works with a range of mediums, from painting and printmaking to embroidery on textiles. While her artistic practice is primarily concerned with women and the space that they occupy, it is also informed by personal experience. Well-versed in Urdu, Persian and Arabic, language and script find their way into her artworks as well.

Arshi’s new exhibition and debut solo show, which opened at Blueprint 12 in New Delhi, showcases her latest work, Nafas or The Isolation Diaries. We caught up with the artist to talk about Nafas, her use of textiles in her work and her idea of home, while she lives and works between Kabul and New Delhi.

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Samanta Batra Mehta and Nirupa Rao in Conversation From Isolation

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Samanta Batra Mehta and Nirupa Rao in Conversation From Isolation

Samanta Batra Mehta and Nirupa Rao approach their artistic practice very differently, each with a unique voice and creative process. The work of both artists, however, is rooted in a love for botany. New York City-based Samanta works with illustration, text and photography to create multi-layered, mixed-media installations that draw connections between the environment and the human condition. Nirupa's botanical illustrations are inspired by her regular field visits into the wild–the most recent of which was to the forests of the Western Ghats. The Bangalore-based artist collaborates closely with botanists to achieve scientific accuracy.

Monsoon Malabar connected with Samantha and Nirupa via email to discuss their varied inspirations, love of books and how covid has changed the way they work in their respective cities.

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A Review of Moderne Maharajah at the Musée des Artes Décoratifs

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A Review of Moderne Maharajah at the Musée des Artes Décoratifs

Moderne Maharajah at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris brings together for the first time 500 rare photographs, pieces of furniture and fine objects that tell the story of the stylish life of Maharaja Yeshwant Rao Holkar II of Indore considered one of the pioneers of modernism in India. 

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In Conversation with Stephanie Douet & Roshan Chhabria

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In Conversation with Stephanie Douet & Roshan Chhabria

Coming from diverse backgrounds and different parts of the world, Stephanie Douet and Roshan Chhabria first connected via Instagram while chatting about the British Raj. This developed into a collaborative series titled Indo-Anglian Conversations, which was exhibited at the India Club in London. We caught up with Stephanie and Roshan to talk about their artistic collaboration, creative process and the way their works have been influenced by one another.

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