Hearti-ich Hyderabad is the result of artist Orijit Sen’s seven-year project. The Dakhni title for the exhibition of his series of artworks, now on view at Hyderabad’s Kalakriti art gallery, aptly captures the artist’s impressions of the essence of Hyderabad. Sen portrays the bustling cityscapes, from Laad Bazaar to Shah Ali Banda and Charminar, juxtaposing the old and the new, documenting the city diligently and making us step closer and marvel at the details.
A large work of Laad Bazaar during Ramzan can be termed as the pièce de résistance of Heart-ich Hyderabad. It is tough to pinpoint a starting and ending point of the multi-directional artwork. He presents an aerial view of the bazaar in which shops are selling their wares on either side of the road. Enterprising vendors even put up makeshift shops in the middle of the road. The night is still young and there’s plenty of colour, glitter and light as people shop or savour a hearty meal.
“The intense action in this space during Ramzan always fascinates me,” says Orijit Sen, during this interview at the gallery’s cafe. “Everyone is there to celebrate the season and be a part of what I see as a collective performance.” He wanted his artwork of Laad Bazaar to be multi-dimensional from different points of view. He recalls a similar technique being employed in an old Pahadi painting. “It was a depiction of Jehangir’s procession in a bazaar with shops on either side. I liked the visual language.”
