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Why a Madhubani painting is grabbing eyeballs in the US

Pushpa Kumari’s Madhubani painting is one of the 20 artworks on display at bus shelters in three American cities as part of the public art exhibition, ‘Global Positioning’

Pushpa Kumari, ‘Joy of Living’, (2021). ink on paper. Courtesy: Pushpa Kumari and Gofffa, commissioned by Public Art Fund for ‘Global Positioning’
Pushpa Kumari, ‘Joy of Living’, (2021). ink on paper. Courtesy: Pushpa Kumari and Gofffa, commissioned by Public Art Fund for ‘Global Positioning’

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These days, the JCDecaux bus shelters in New York, Chicago and Boston are playing host to a unique public art exhibition, Global Positioning. Curated by the Public Art Fund—a not-for-profit organisation that specialises in temporary public exhibitions and outreach programmes—it features new works by 20 artists from across the world, who have responded to the turbulent period of the pandemic. And with a blend of hope, incisiveness and sensitivity, they have imagined a future full of possibilities.

This gamut of artists includes Pushpa Kumari—incidentally the only Indian artist in the exhibition—who has contributed a Madhubani painting, titled Joy Of Living. This ink on paper work exudes optimism, as masked figures try to find joy in the existing circumstances. “Covid-19 is a very different subject for me. In our Madhubani tradition, we don’t have any stories or legends about it. So, I have had to draw from my own experiences,” says Pushpa Kumari, who now resides in Noida. Joy Of Living has been inspired by the idea of Vasudeva Kutumbakam (the world is one family).

To her, the pandemic has shown just how important it is for the world to be united in the face of crisis. She draws inspiration from her maternal grandmother, who raised her and taught her the intricacies of Madhubani painting. Pushpa Kumari, who pegs her age at around 53, has been getting images from the curators of people interacting with her painting, and feels great pride at where her work has reached. “Kala samajhne waale log hi sabse bade kalaakar hote hain, (people who appreciate art are the biggest artists),” she says.

Also read: Artist Saju Kunhan continues to paint his family histories

The curators of Global Positioning were aware of her work and reached out to Pushpa Kumari in August last year. Together with Minhazz Majumdar, a Delhi-based writer, designer and curator specialising in Indian traditional arts, who has been working with her for years, the artist got down to conceptualising the artwork. Instead of creating motifs that were relevant to India alone, they tried to imagine symbols that held universal meaning. “And that is how the idea of the umbrella came about, which is a global symbol of protection,” says Majumdar.

Artist Pushpa Kumari is the only Indian artist in the exhibition
Artist Pushpa Kumari is the only Indian artist in the exhibition

These days, the JCDecaux bus shelters in New York, Chicago and Boston are playing host to a unique public art exhibition, Global Positioning. Curated by the Public Art Fund—a not-for-profit organisation that specialises in temporary public exhibitions and outreach programmes—it features new works by 20 artists from across the world, who have responded to the turbulent period of the pandemic. And with a blend of hope, incisiveness and sensitivity, they have imagined a future full of possibilities.

This gamut of artists includes Pushpa Kumari—incidentally the only Indian artist in the exhibition—who has contributed a Madhubani painting, titled Joy Of Living. This ink on paper work exudes optimism, as masked figures try to find joy in the existing circumstances. “Covid-19 is a very different subject for me. In our Madhubani tradition, we don’t have any stories or legends about it. So, I have had to draw from my own experiences,” says Pushpa Kumari, who now resides in Noida. Joy Of Living has been inspired by the idea of Vasudeva Kutumbakam (the world is one family).

To her, the pandemic has shown just how important it is for the world to be united in the face of crisis. She draws inspiration from her maternal grandmother, who raised her and taught her the intricacies of Madhubani painting. Pushpa Kumari, who pegs her age at around 53, has been getting images from the curators of people interacting with her painting, and feels great pride at where her work has reached. “Kala samajhne waale log hi sabse bade kalaakar hote hain, (people who appreciate art are the biggest artists),” she says.

Also read: Artist Saju Kunhan continues to paint his family histories

The curators of Global Positioning were aware of her work and reached out to Pushpa Kumari in August last year. Together with Minhazz Majumdar, a Delhi-based writer, designer and curator specialising in Indian traditional arts, who has been working with her for years, the artist got down to conceptualising the artwork. Instead of creating motifs that were relevant to India alone, they tried to imagine symbols that held universal meaning. “And that is how the idea of the umbrella came about, which is a global symbol of protection,” says Majumdar.

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Today, the discourse around folk art in India is two-fold: either people talk about how these forms are fast disappearing or that they are being dumbed down to suit a mass market. “However, if you see Pushpa Kumari’s work, it is of the finest quality. A lot of tribal art coming out right now shows covid-19 as a demon. However, her work is about resilience and optimism,” she adds.

Daniel S. Palmer, the Public Art Fund curator, calls Joy Of Living a beautiful and meaningful contribution to Global Positioning. “It was commissioned specifically for this exhibition, and we were absolutely overjoyed when we first saw it, knowing that it would be perfect on bus shelters and really stop audiences in their tracks,” he writes in an email interview. He found her drawing so powerful in the way it declared unity in the fight against covid-19, with vaccines and masks becoming an important part of daily life.

Also read: New media and graphic art shine at CIMA Awards

“This is illustrated by Kumari through the overall composition and subtle details, such as how she depicts children playing, jumping, and skipping with joy as the lockdowns ease across the world, the umbrella rod doubling as a vaccination syringe, and the ways that the small dots throughout the piece evoke the covid spike protein. She has included such subtle yet thoughtful details,” he elaborates.

Global Positioning began with the intention to amplify the creative voices of artists across the world. Together with Public Art Fund’s artistic and executive director Nicholas Baume and associate curator Katerina Stathopoulou, Palmer selected 20 artists such as Myriam Boulos from Lebanon, Peruvian Lastenia Canayo, Zoncy Heavenly from Myanmar, Ali Kazim from Pakistan, and more. This happened through a process of reviewing nominations by colleagues in the field. “The prompt that we asked these artists to respond to with newly commissioned work was to examine our reshaped world as we reconvene with society,” elaborates Palmer. “Their incredible artworks reveal our shared humanity across the boundaries of geography, culture, language, history, and politics.”

The works on display at 320 JCDecaux bus shelters in three American cities—100 in New York, 160 in Chicago and 60 in Boston—span a range of mediums such as painting, drawing, collage, sand painting and embroidery. For Palmer and his team, one of the hopes for the exhibition was to showcase compelling and lesser-known voices from other parts of the world in New York, Chicago and Boston as a way to spark dialogue. “We wanted to encourage local audiences to consider where there might be opportunities to derive beauty and joy, and the opportunity to learn from these artists and their unique global perspectives,” he says. The exhibition also highlights the importance of public art, especially during the pandemic, when open spaces have become a haven of sorts. “The new artworks in Global Positioning illustrate how artists have processed the pandemic, underscoring a shared impulse to create, communicate, and imagine a future filled with possibility,” adds Palmer.

Global Positioning is on view till 5 June on 320 JCDecaux bus shelters in New York, Boston and Chicago

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