Geetika Goyal’s solo venture is an exploration of the man-woman relationship as a struggle.
TO harness creative energy into fixed formulas is certainly not Geetika Goyal’s beat. Making a quantum leap from Physics numericals into the limitless realms of aesthetics, this sensitive artist stands for the triumph of imagination over intelligence. Exhibiting her series on the man-woman relationship at the Habitat Centre in New Delhi, Geetika’s solo venture is an exploration of their life as a struggle.
To find those elusive dimensions of the human bondage between a man and a woman, that will carry them through life, making them believe that life is not a series of gig lamps symmetrically arranged but that life is a luminous halo — a transparent envelope surrounding us from the beginning to the end. Except that the luminosity is tarnished by the woman’s silent suffering, the man taking her existence for granted.
Search for an identity
The painting with the hand, taut with tension is symbolic of the constant search for an identity by the woman, who remains mouthless in the entire series. The absence of lips conveys the mute acceptance of the man as a superior being — an element that is still rampantly prevalent in our patriarchal society. She remains voiceless but the postures and the expressions convey the intense desire to break out of conventional modes, a desire to burst forth from the shackles of male suppression.
Dancing women yet tied. The man’s sardonic expression, smug in the secure belief that the women in his life will continue to dance to his tunes. The man has his back turned towards the woman, most of the times. He doesn’t want to face certain realities. To handle a relationship head on, perceive a woman in all her completeness is a stance that the man will never wish to adopt. A painful metaphor employed by the artist to focus the viewer’s attention towards the existing ugliness and emotional claustrophobia that is a throbbing, living part of every woman’s life.
A sculptor who has experimented with colours, shapes and textures, working around hand made paper, Geetika’s paintings carry the leitmotif forward — her paintings too are three-dimensional. Bright colours and clean lines are a deliberate choice. Geetika has had shows in Ahemdabad and Jaipur earlier. She has also authored children’s stories and won the Sitadevi Bal Sahitya Rashtriya Puruskar for her book, Nana Nani Ki Kahaniyan.
Her love for life, to live each moment with positivity takes her into the dark vestibules of a woman’s mind. To let her escape and find herself again. The man is a silent, dark spectator, the woman trying to soar. Poignant yet strong spirited, the postures convey the state of mind. The quest for liberation, to climb out of anonymity and not live a life of isolation finds keen expression in Geetika’s work. “The power nexus has always worked in favour of the man in our society. It is time to emphasise on the need to attain a definite identity. It is a learning process, a continuous journey but we must evolve and search for ourselves,” said Geetika.
Publisher- The Hindu