Orijit Sen’s ‘Heart-ich Hyderabad’, on view at Kalakriti art gallery, is a love letter to the city that made him an artist

Laad Bazaar by Orijit Sen, on display at Kalakriti art gallery, Hyderabad
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

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.” 

Heart-ich Hyderabad features Sen’s digital art prints of other localities such as the Shah Ali Banda and the iconic Pista House. The visual imagery in these works come from his observation of the city over the decades.

Insider, outsider debate

Sen has always been intrigued by the question, ‘where are you from?’ He was born in Bengal and his father, a cartographer, moved to Hyderabad for work. Sen spent his teen years in Hyderabad before moving to New Delhi and now lives in Goa. He often wonders if he is a Bengali, Hyderabad, Delhiite or a Goan. “There is a lot of insider-outsider debate in Goa,” he adds.

Artist Orijit Sen
| Photo Credit:
Michael Praveen

His formative years in Hyderabad deepened his interest in art and he recalls his art teacher encouraging him to think beyond engineering and medicine. This was in the 1970s. His art teacher’s gesture of displaying several of his artworks, along with those of other students, on the corridors of Hyderabad Public School, Ramanthapur, gave him the confidence to pursue art. His family was concerned at the unconventional choice. The more the resistance, the more determined was Sen. 

Years later, he frequented Hyderabad to visit his brother’s family and observed the changes in the city. When he collaborated with Kalakriti on this project, he visited the different localities and engaged with people to understand the changing city from close quarters. 

Intermittently, some of his artworks on Hyderabad were showcased to visitors at Sardar Mahal (which is now undergoing renovation). “That was a trailer to this show.”

Orijit Sen’s depiction of Shah Ali Banda in Hyderabad’s Old City
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

Sen points out how the Old City is expected to retain its old world charm even as it undergoes urbanisation. In his panoramic artwork of Shah Ali Banda, he depicts how the Qutb Shahi era arches now rub shoulders with concrete constructions of the 1950s and the more recent ones. He contrasts the historical structures that were designed to allow light and air to waft through with the newer structures that monetise every square foot. Sen observes, “Those who grew up in the older environment are different from those who grow up in confined spaces with air conditioning, artificial glass structures and remain hooked to social media and have more friends online than offline.”

Before and after

As a young lad, Sen accompanied his father on his cartography trips across Hyderabad. “I have seen spaces that later became streets. So when I look at photographs, I know what they looked like earlier.” 

Orijit Sen reimagines the Charminar in a Japanese setting
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

Heart-ich Hyderabad also features Muharram procession through one of the Char Kamans. While this is a close-to-reality interpretation, interestingly, he reimagines the Charminar in varied terrains. One work shows Charminar on a seafront. Sen shares that he was at the Kochi Biennale a few years ago where he had displayed a puzzle inspired by the Old City bazaar and Charminar. When visitors pieced together the puzzle, it would light up. This exhibit overlooked the sea. Sen wondered how Charminar, which was always surrounded by people, would look on a seafront. 

In another work, he reimagines the Charminar in Japan in the vicinity of Mount Fuji and cherry blossoms, inspired by Hokusa’s ‘36 views of Mount Fuji’ series. Sen also depicts the Charminar as a Mughal-style painting with Quli Qutb Shah in its vicinity and in yet another, places the Charminar in a glass structure as viewed by princess Durrushehvar.

(Heart-ich Hyderabad featuring limited edition digital prints by Orijit Sen is on view at Kalakriti Art Gallery, Hyderabad, till August 31)