TW: Sexual Harassment, Abuse
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CULTURE AND ARTS
The 7th Sense by Ishita Goel
The Culture and Arts section is a space for discourse over trends or cultural aspects of our community. Arts pieces under this section include visual arts and music pieces, and written pieces under the Culture section consist of non-persuasive writing/reporting regarding ongoings of the world around us. This could include a review of a new movie, for example, or a critique of an artwork/song.
TAKE ME TO
ARTWORKS
Roaring Thunder
Aditya Pratap Mahajan
This digital piece depicts Mjolnir, the infamous hammer of the Norse god Thor. Norse mythology states that thunder is the sound of Mjolnir racing through the skies, shooting lightning and causing thunderstorms. With this piece, I intended to depict that phenomenon. I used digital water color and textured brushes to paint out every element in the piece. The hammer is a mixture of the iconic Mjolnir design from Marvel Comics and the traditional, pentagonal depiction of the hammer in Nordic folklore.
Flying Memories
Alima Shala
Felt nostalgic creating this piece because these CDs were loaded up with plenty of ecstatic moments and some saccharine smiles, I wouldn’t trust anymore however, letting them fly also means I can let some go and hope for the future to appear different, adventures and hold a portion of those memories under my pillow...
Untitled
Anoshka Rijish
In this composition, I used a spiral tool to create the base of the design I wanted to create. I then used a “pinch” tool to create the illusion of flower-like figures through the spirals. Next, I added the sides of the original image to my edited layout to maintain variety and make the artwork more aesthetically appealing. This artwork uses distortion on a natural landscape to emphasis on the colour palette and texture on the image.
Cloud 9
Anoshka Rijish
I chose to compose a cloud due to its soft boundaries and its common symbolization of peace, hope and beauty. I utilized the sky from the original image through circular cropped images that showcased the beauty of the sky and enhanced features from the original image. I used several circular and semi-circular cropped images to compose the cloud.
Tapestry
Anushka Roy
A tapestry hangs on the wall
Threaded, coloured a brilliant red
A woollen crawl
Above my wooden head
I sit, a still log
On plush, on leather, on velvet
And through dense a fog
Before my button eyes
A woollen crawl, above my wooden head
And it begins to fray,
Fall on the floor in pools of blood
Staining through the floorboards
Bleeding into the sky of day
A tapestry hangs on the wall,
Bare, canvas and holes
Bullet-holes neatly drawn
Above my wooden head
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Happy in the Chaos
Anushka Saharawat
 The photographs were taken from a balcony, showing the nature and important characters in one’s life. It was based on finding happiness in chaos. Having multiple distracting objects is chaotic, similar to life. However, finding something you like, makes everything calm and positive.
The Dual Face
Arundhati Goyal
My artwork reflects beauty, whilst also displaying aspects of destruction and death. This surreal piece of work is a collation of symbolism as each object symbolises an intangible idea. My aim was to depict the beauty that we possess, on the right side of the face (the dove represents love and peace), while the left showcased the imperfections. (the serpents can represent death, destruction and evil).
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I did, however add a melting face on the right side and a butterfly on the left, showing that according to me, damaged is beautiful and similarly, perfect is ugly.
The intention behind making this canvas painting was to release my mind's imagination and thoughts. I used surrealism because it allowed me to express an experience (of witnessing good in bad and vice versa), of an object or person.
Satyug - Positive Living
Bhav Vohra
The artwork is named ‘Satyug’ which means ‘positive living’. The artwork has two characters, Lord Krishna & Radha. The work Satyug, in Hinduism, is the first of the four yugas and is also known as the age of truth. This was when Humanity was governed by gods and every appearance was the purest gesture of humanity. The message conveyed is that we can make a community where everyone is treated equally and everyone is given the ability to display a pragmatic gesture.
Merry Nature
Bhav Vohra
The artwork is named ‘Merry Nature’. My intention for creating this artwork was to encourage people to keep the environment clean. Maintaining the environment is requires not only waste segregation but also pollution control. In 2019, 1.67 million people died in India because of pollution; a significant number posing a significant problem. The message is clear; individuals all around the globe have to take due action to reduce pollution and conserve the environment.
Untitled
Harshini Pandey
Through my artwork, I want to showcase the unfortunate death of George Floyd, which had no apparent reason. I speak against racism by making this painting and without racism, the world will be much better. The Black Lives Matter protest is known to potentially be the largest movement in terms of participation in U.S history, with over 26 million protesters. It re-surged when George Perry Floyd, an African American man, was brutally killed in Minneapolis on May 25th by 3 American officers...
The 7th Sense
Ishita Goel
My artwork is an amalgamation of digital and traditional art. It comprises of an eye (made with charcoal pencil), merged with a photograph of light bulbs (edited digitally). This artwork accentuates the power of an individual's opinions and perspectives on the world and unknown, underlining the importance of a universal vision.
Chaos
Jiye Park
The horrific monster in the focus with hands around him to grab him suggests anxiety. The patterns in the background gives a sense of motion in the artwork which gives a feeling of uneasiness and discomfort. In addition, the wide contrast between the colours (black, red, white) adds to the feeling of discomfort in the viewers as well.
Untitled
Kabir Arora
I put eggshells because I wanted to show the significance of my migration flowing out of an eggshell and showing that from within, I'm from India. I have put the Taj Mahal in the picture as I have never left India and the Taj Mahal is one the most famous attractions in the country. I have put yellow taxis as they are extremely important to India; they used to be utilized in the olden times and have continued today. I put a camel as I lived in Rajasthan for a while and these colours are holy colours since Holi is India's best festival according to me.
The Two Sides
Mahi Agarwal
I made this painting, ‘The two sides’, to showcase the two sides of a woman in this day and age. While she may be happy and beautiful on the outside, she is devoid of colour, sad and broken on the inside because of the negligence and discrimination she faces in today’s society. I decided to use shredded paper as a symbol to represent the ‘brokenness’ that this woman feels due to being deprived of her dreams, rights, love etc. I strongly believe that there is a lot of work that needs to be put into women empowerment before we see an equal and unbiased world, one that is free of preconceived notions and unjust systems which gives women an intentional disadvantage to even function. One that lets this woman to let go of her darkness and experience the privilege of being treated as an equal.
Untitled
Myra Jain
The piece above is a digital art piece. I have blended different colors in the background and used the self-portraits as the focal points in the picture. My aim was to showcase a never-ending infinite illusion by repetitively using the identical image. It is a maze filled with my identity, me exploring my identity, going here and there, again and again, making the right, and the wrong choices.
WRITING
HOW TO SEE| Life Around Me
Anushka Roy
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What will happen when I have finished watching every slightly watchable show on Netflix? It feels as if the answer is right around the corner, hiding behind the next cooking show I watch, or the next bad-guy-turned-good character who fails to involve me emotionally as I sit on my sofa and binge-watch the reality of COVID-19 away. In the first economic quarter of April 2020, as reported by the Xinhua News Agency, Netflix showed a 22.8 percent growth in subscribers during the COVID-19 pandemic, revealing that my thinly veiled escapist tendencies are shared by many. But when the world tentatively wades back into ‘everyday’ life, confronting the reality of a changed narrative will be difficult. An unexpected crutch is extended from a familiar and often overlooked media: home movies...
Image by Anushka Roy
How I Became A Feminist At The Age of 13
Dhriti Pasrija
As a 13-year-old teenager, who had just started exploring the real world, I must tell you I wasn’t impressed.  
This is my story, about how I  came to become a feminist at  just the age of 13.   
It all started when one day I was scrolling through Instagram and I saw several videos, addressing the murder of George Floyd by three white policemen.  
I wasn’t sure what had exactly happened, so I decided to search a little bit about this issue, and I came across Racism.   
But I thought “this isn’t my problem” because I have never been discriminated for my skin colour.  
Then a few days later, I noticed a lot of influencers rising on this issue and just as I blinked, ...