Friday market, Syria crisis come to life through art

Vadodara: A rickshaw is not just a mode of transport but also stands as a witness to changing times of any city. It travels through some of the narrowest bylanes of the old city that is full of heritage buildings.

With this idea, Rashesh Chauhan, a final-year masters of visual arts student, has tried to put focus on heritage buildings and the threat they face due to modernization as part of the art works that he has prepared for the much-awaited annual display of M S University’s famed Faculty of Fine Arts.

“I have tried to recreate ambience of old city of Baroda by using old tin metal boxes that have been put on the rickshaw that has been given rust effect by using acid,” said Chauhan, who after losing his parents is currently supporting his studies through his father’s pension which will also stop this month as he has attained 25 years. The annual display which will showcase works of final year bachelors and masters students will be kept open for public view on Thursday and Friday.

If Chauhan has tried to recreate ambience of old city, another final year student Gulab Kapadia, has created an ambience of

Friday market

through his art works that he has created from the items he regularly purchased from such markets in last two years. Prasanna Gogilwar, another student, has depicted the problems faced by farmers of drought-affected Vidarbha region through a series of miniature hand pumps and a tap that often runs dry. Mohammed Aslam, a student from West Bengal, has depicted the problems faced by refugees or immigrants due to the Syrian and Palestinian war crisis by creating models of luggage bags and military shoes from fibre glass, wood and plaster of paris. “I have tried to show how child refugees are one of the worst affected due to the crisis in the Middle-East,” he said.