Democratisation of art: By the people and for the people

Democratisation of art: By the people and for the people

Abhishek Poddar, Founder, Museum of Art & Photography ( MAP) writes for BeejLiving on making a museum an inclusive and welcoming space Ever since I became interested in art, I wondered why we would line up for museums on trips abroad, but shy away from …

Anonymity and the artist: Princess Pea and the Khud Se Pooche campaign

Anonymity and the artist: Princess Pea and the Khud Se Pooche campaign

Anonymous visual and performance artist Princess Pea through her contemporary art practices brings to the forefront international issues of tradition, identity and celebrity with an underlying satire on global societal concerns. She presents to the world her alter ego in the form of a ‘living …

The Hidden Kingdom

The Hidden Kingdom

One of our favourite botanical illustrators and authors, Nirupa Rao is out with a new nature and science book. Her latest tome, Hidden Kingdom, features botanical illustrations of fascinating plants native to the Western Ghats—from carnivores and parasites to flowers that smell like rotting flesh. You’ll encounter familiar species (like pepper) as well as the more obscure (like the colourless ghost orchid), all certain to make you see the natural world with new eyes.

The boundless joy of viewing life as an artist

The boundless joy of viewing life as an artist

Nature is the supreme artist with no limitations on materials. Be it the endless skies, nurturing earth, massive mountains, solid rocks, endless seas, merciless deserts, and magical snow, you can just imagine the endless series of props in a bag that she pulls out: magnificent works of art, which no camera can capture. These visual treats are random, phenomenal and never the same, and have inspired artists, brought to life by Turner or Constable, surprisingly distorted by Dali and interestingly simplified by Paul Klee.

The Kolkata Dossier

The Kolkata Dossier

“So in the streets of Calcutta I sometimes imagine myself a foreigner, and only then do I discover how much is to be seen, which is lost so long as its full value in attention is not paid. It is the hunger to really see …

The only map you need if you’re visiting the Kochi-Muziris Biennale

The only map you need if you’re visiting the Kochi-Muziris Biennale

You’re going to the Biennale. Breathe.   You need to discover it, not catalogue it. It’s easy to run around like a headless chicken, instagramming and hashtagging, because, FOMO. But let me sum up the harsh reality—seeing everything is impossible. Some halls you might just …