Journeys within and without

Illustration
Pranati Vijay

Twinning

A woman transporting a large sack of flowers matches with her stock. The universe creates its own compositions if you open your eyes.

Transition

A footbridge in Majestic, connecting the bus stand and metro station, with the railway station in close proximity. A fast paced space of hustling human bodies.

Khan with rakhis

A man with "my name is khan" on his auto sports multiple rakhis. Festivities are beyond religion in this country.

Reminders of Inspiration

A vintage looking Hotel Pushpamala, sharing the same name as the artist I admire

The Girls

Two police women who ran and go onto the bus, share loud laughter and banter with the bus driver. They were playful, energetic and at the end of the day- girls

Ladies

The section to which I limit myself. In the bus, the metro and perhaps in life.

The Chandralekha Reincarnate

A day after passionately discussing about the renowned dancer Chandralekha with my parents, I met a beautiful older woman at the metro station with an eerie similarity to her. I told her she's beautiful and asked if she was a dancer. She said she was. I wished I could tell her that she most definitely still was, with how she carried herself. She exuded grace.

One within another

The view of a bus from within a bus. An interesting state of being. To be within and simultaneously spectate from outside.

Mobility

A mini series of phone addiction and bad posture. A pun on mobile phones and movement (mobility).

Impatience

Another live sketch of an older lady restlessly standing and waiting to leave 10 minutes before her stop. (I wondered where she had to be?)

Regular routes

285M is the route I take most often, but since the bus rides have always meant more to me than a means of transport, I emphasise this by saying it takes me home and beyond.

Concept Note

The series "journeys within and without" is a series of thirty pen and pencil sketches drawn on bus tickets I have collected overtime.

To me, the canvas itself speaks volumes. The sketches largely consist of stills of people, scenes and observations from within a bus or bus stand. My bus journeys alone have always been a meditative space that makes me feel incredibly grounded and connected to my environment. The bus ties me to the reality of the world I live in, makes me meet unlikely people and notice new sceneries and places. As I journey physically, and I go on a journey of (external) discoveries, there is an inner emotional journey as well because of the time for calmness and introspection that the bus provides me.

When I'm in transit on the bus, I get to be in a blissful limbo, in between two places with nothing to do except just be on that bus, getting somewhere. Moments on the bus rides make me highly aware of my in -between identity as someonewho is a lot more privileged than the average bus user, someone who stands out in the way I present myself and simultaneously the fact that I often do not belong with my peers who can easily afford to take autos or cabs. There is a feeling of otherness I experience in both my realities but in this mixed reality of mine, I belong.

Some of the pieces are merely of people and places that I noticed prominently or multiple times- enough to take a picture or make a mental note of, which is why I felt the need to include them. However, many of the works have larger stories and experiences attached to them.

Artist Bio

Pranati Vijay is currently a 2nd Year Contemporary Art student at Srishti Manipal Institute. Her practice consists of largely multi-media works with significant explorations in textile, and themes ranging from personal and introspective to social, cultural and ecological. She strongly believes in the importance of art being contextual and deeply rooted in current reality, whether personal or public. Her time interning with Art in Transit over the last summer has made her more attuned to Bangalore's communities, history and ecology which feeds into her current practice. You can find her work at @artson1st.