Ayodhya has been a place of peace and conflict through the history of India. It has been defined through faith, devotion, and politics of electoral democracy, and it has been a site to test values and identities. Whenever Ayodhya was sought to be bound in definitions and contained in structures, it had led to contest and unrest. And whenever it was set free, it has been at peace. Ayodhya has endured change and challenges because the places of worship had to be imagined, and were a tangible spiritual experience. The absence in Ayodhya was not vacant, when it was relocated in the hearts of the believers. And, when it was re-imagined with devotion and love, there was no contest, no unrest.
“Remains of Ayodhya, Places of Worship, is one such thought that had taken many years of conceptualisation to be finally represented. The artworks in the 2017 series are forms that signify places of worship that are not contained in religious structures and have been returned to nature.”
On the artistic process, Neelima stated, “All creativity begins with thought that seeks to be represented. But how does thought that is, at the same time, absent
Neelima adds, “Remains of Ayodhya, Places of Worship, is one such thought that had taken many years of conceptualisation to be finally represented. The artworks in the 2017 series are forms that signify places of worship that are not contained in religious structures and have been returned to nature. The formless and the unrepresented in the Ayodhya guided the spiritual journey of the soul through a million manifestations of the immortal thought alive in nature; in light, leaves, flowers of trees and skies of days and night. The paintings seek that universal presence that Ayodhya now symbolizes with its absence of a place of worship.”
The exhibition is on till 16 January at the Galerie Romain Rolland, Alliance Francaise, New Delhi