I went to see the World of Rock Art Exhibition at the Vinoba Bhave University, Hazaribagh, Jharkhand this morning. There was a disappointing lack of information regarding the photos: rock art of India on the ground floor and a whistle stop tour of world rock art upstairs. None of the rock art was dated, photos of thousands of years old paintings sandwiched between obviously much more recent art with absolutely no explanation. There was no information regarding the geographical siting of the rock art either, merely vague indications about district where they could be found.
Almost all the photos were over-saturated, leading to garish colour distortion. Overall it was a disappointing experience, though the map of India indicating the major rock art sites, was possibly the most inspiring thing in the whole exhibition, showing rock art sites in almost every state in India. Rock art in India varies from petroglyphs in the hills of South Goa:
Petroglyph at La Zarza in South Goa (my photo)
and paintings of animals in Bimbetka and Rajastan to pictographs in the Hazaribagh region of Jharkhand:
Pictographs at Isco, Hazaribagh, Jharkhand (my photo)
The exhibition included iconic images from the caves of Central France
The exhibition was culled from a much bigger and more detailed exhibition on Rock Art organised during the International Rock Art Conference at the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) New Delhi form 6 December 2012 - 25 January 2013. I wonder whether the original exhibition was more informative than this, an exhibition designed to entertain, rather than inform.
No comments:
Post a Comment