Her works deftly weave together undertones of feminism with the themes of history and mythology. But Lucknow-based printmaker Sonal Varshneya doesn’t want to be monikered as a rebel. She rather prefers being known as an artist who is striving to uplift an underappreciated art form through the right blend of experimentation and expression.

A series of etchings entitled ‘The Heroine’s Last Dream’, a compilation of her works from different series, were recently exhibited at Apparao Infinity in Chennai.

Even as the elaborate artistry of printmaking involves preparing different printing plates to bring out different colours in a single piece of art, Varshneya in her stint of seven years has been working towards bringing out the desired colours on just one plate.

“My toils are rewarded when people mistake my prints for paintings. The greatest achievement, however, will be the day printing is revered on par with painting and discussed for its concepts rather than its technicalities,” says the 31-year-old.

A student of Lalit Kala Sansthan of Agra University, Varshneya was awarded for her contribution to printmaking at the International Print Biennial at Taiwan in 2012 and recently bagged the South Central Zone Award for her series ‘Photoshoot’. Her works are currently on display at the ongoing International Biennial of Contemporary Printmaking in Canada for which she was selected among 32 artists worldwide.

Amid themes based on history, mythology and Indian traditions, women stand out prominently in Varshneya’s etchings. An apt example would be the prints in her ‘Photoshoot’ series where Varshneya tries breaking social stereotypes by re-drawing the nine deviyans or nine forms of Goddess Durga as women dressed in modern outfits.

“My women are inspired from goddesses as I believe every woman is as powerful and free as a goddess. The ladies in the prints still wield the mythical lotus in their hand, but they are not deviyans, but just ordinary women who are empowered,” she says. One could find recurrent images of tigers and lions in such works, which Varshneya says is her way to symbolise the blend of power and tenderness in a woman.

Women empowerment is the theme of another work where Varshneya draws women as Chhau dancers, even though Chhau, the Indian martial dance, is traditionally performed by male dancers. “These images are manifestations of my suppressed feelings. Being born and brought up in a society which boasts of a rich cultural heritage, yet discriminates on basis of caste, creed and sex, I have fought these notions all my life,” she says.

Her backgrounds on the other hand are embellished with extensive drawings of the famous Chikankari work of Lucknow, an ode to the city she lives in. In others she throws in images drawn from mythology, a theme that has been fodder for her imagination since her salad days.

During a printmaking residency in Korea in 2013, Varshneya created a series of prints based on the Hindu God Hanuman. She is currently working on a series based on Draupadi from the Mahabharata. Wanting to include photo and digital etchings in her works, Varshneya plans to devote the next few years to perfecting her colours in sync with her concepts.

Though she easily plucks her themes from mundane events and even oral conversations, Varshneya says translating them on paper via the printing plate is a real challenge. “Taking one print is easy but replicating the same design with the same colour combinations in the editions is a challenge. To add to it the whole affair doesn’t come cheap because the papers and colours are expensive and you have just one shot at experimentation.”

But all that effort often goes unappreciated. “The irony is people think our work isn’t singular because the printing plate unlike painting has the additional benefit of reproducing copies of an artwork, something that supposedly doesn’t make it one of its kind. They forget the fact that behind these editions there is a concept, intricate techniques and several rounds of labour that are waiting to be appreciated,” she adds.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Magazine / by Samhati Mohapatra / August 01st, 2015