I have been visiting Jaipur for as long as I can
remember. However, the visits have increased over the last four years on a
regular basis ever since Faith Singh initiated the idea of the Jaipur Virasat
Fesitival. And in my various inroads into Jaipur I was struck by the energy and
dynamism which dots the landscape of the erstwhile royal and now the commercial
city of Jaipur.Post Independent Jaipur has
also become the hub of a great trading class. From gems to jewels, from textiles
to stone, from handicrafts to fine art, Jaipur seduces and engages every visitor
to the city
As part of the ‘golden triangle’ of tourism,
Jaipur has had its steady flow of the foreign and the indigenous traveller. And,
it was this steady flow of tourism and the consumption of cultural production of
Jaipur that prompted me to title the exhibition “Inside OUT, Outside IN”. The
exhibition attempts to interrogate and experience the creative spaces and
energies of Jaipur. For me, Jaipur almost always embodies a potent cocktail of
art, craft and design.
The exhibition will transcend the languages of
art and the various mediums of expression. An interdisciplinary cross-cultural
manifestation of cultural production emerges where the zeitgeist is embedded in
Jaipur.
Within the global context, Jaipur has always been
in the ‘eyes’ of the outside world (the foreigner) — both for tourism and
commerce. Its architecture, the museums and ‘royalty’ have always drawn tourists
from across the globe. Gems and textiles are the other face of Jaipur. From
across the continents gemologists and jewellers flood Jaipur to buy the best of
gems and create jewellery. From Bagru to Shekhawati, the block printers of
Jaipur have created superb world-class textiles that have been promoted both by
individuals and corporates. And, then the huge craft community of its stone
cutters, taazia makers — all living in harmony — also demonstrate the
secular spirit of the state acting as a catalyst in of bridging cultural
boundaries, celebrating a plural state.
All the 20 artists invited for the show have a
connection with Jaipur, either through the physical geography or a cultural
thread. From within Jaipur itself , ‘inside-outside’ artists like Piyush Pande
have taken advertising to new heights, just as Chintan Upadhyay has also taken
visual culture to the global stage. So, the idea of the show is to bring about a
cross-cultural stream of two forces that are constantly busy energising each
other.
‘Inside OUT, Outside IN’ will become the signpost
of a model that will showcase the brightest and the best of Jaipur, not just to
the people of Jaipur, but also to the world outside.
Jaipur as a part of Rajasthan becomes the
protagonist who starts the journey of foregrounding Rajasthan like never before.
For, if any state takes care of its writers, thinkers, artists and craftsmen,
that state becomes an icon of a civil society and governance.
Through this exhibition the cultural diversity
and the secular spirit of the state is captured.
