Mirror Image

Recently I have been exploring the realm of prayer and trying to comprehend the relation between humans, prayer and God .It is during this exploration that I came across this quote from Thich Nhat Hanh: "We and God are not two separate existences; therefore the will of God is also our own will...Between the subject and the object there is a close relationship just as there is a close relationship between left and right, night and day, satisfaction and hunger; just as according to the law of reflection, the perceiver and the perceived have a close link".
Once I had accepted the idea that one praying and the one being prayed to is the same, I imagined a bit of God within me. Similarly there must be a bit of God in everyone.

A mirror shows what is true; it reflects who you are and exactly how you are. But who you are is who you want to be; it shows who you percieve yourself to be.  'Mirror Image' is a set of paintings which is trying to potray God and humans as a reflection of each other.

                                                                                          

You can see more of my paintings from the series  Tribute to a Mother on: http://harshadapatil.carbonmade.com/projects/3002020#5

Tribute to a Mother

I have often wondered what I may feel if I ever stepped into my mother’s shoes. Like my mother, if I had an arranged marriage as per the social laws that are set for Indian girls. And submitted to all the other cultural and traditional laws such as complete obedience to father, husband and father-in-law and respecting that fact that the only role of a woman is to look after the house and children I would wear a melancholy expression and seek condolence or enlightenment.

However, my mother has submitted to her father’s will regarding her education and marriage. For the last twenty years she has abided by and cared for a father-in-law without hesitation. She has without a doubt been a shadow of her husband and has selflessly sacrificed her hobbies, her free time, her career and her heart and soul to comply by the laws of conduct.

In this tribute, the warm colours used in most paintings bring forth the vision foreigners have of a vibrant culture and traditions that Indians hold onto strongly. The patterns as seen in my paintings are waves of traditional and cultural laws that seem to be waiting to drown the woman in a flood. The social conduct has these woman caught in a cage of customs, seeking condolence and hope while staring into nothing.

However, since my mother understands the value of traditions and freedom I would not end up sacrificing so many things for the sake of keeping customs. She has nurtured me with optimum amount of traditional conservativeness so that I may have an identity and be accepted in our community at the same time she has taught me to treasure freedom. Therefore this is a tribute to all those mothers who have spent their life in this way and name this set of paintings ‘ Tribute to a Mother’