Srinagar, June 20: During the painting camp, the painters, who included men and women, seniors and juniors, locals and visitors from outside, displayed their one-of-a-kind artistic skill by capturing the magnificence and visual beauty of ‘Kashmir’ on canvas.
At the Shri Pratap Singh (SPS) Museum Lal Mandi in this city was where the camp with the subject “The Beauty of Kashmir” was held.
The camp was arranged as part of a series of events that are being organised to mark the “Vitasta Cultural Festival,” which is scheduled to take place on June 23 at the Sher-i-Kashmir International Conference Centre (SKICC) in Srinagar. These events are being hosted in Srinagar.
The North Zone Cultural Centre (NZCC), Patiala, and the Jammu and Kashmir Academy of Art, Culture, and Languages (JKAACL) are working together to put on the camp, which welcomes artists not only from the surrounding area but also from neighbouring states such as Punjab, Haryana, and Rajasthan. The acclaimed “Vitasta Cultural Festival,” which will be held at SKICC on June 23, will be the venue for the exhibition of the creative masterpieces that were generated during this camp.
A veteran painter and native son named Kamal Nain Bhan was one of the people who took part in the painting camp, and his presence stood out among the other attendees. Bhan, who had relocated with several Kashmiri Pandit families in the early 1990s, said that his great love for art drove him back to the Valley today after an absence of 33 years. Bhan had migrated with the other Kashmiri Pandit families at the same time.
He said, “I was born and raised in the Valley, and I left my birthplace in 1990 amidst the unrest and resettled in Jammu along with my family.” He was referring to the Valley of Jammu and Kashmir. After 33 years away, a strong desire to create art is what brought me back to the Valley today. My creative ability has its origins in this area, which is where I was born, and it was here that it first started to blossom.
In addition to this, he said, “The connection that an artist has with their work is unbreakable.” The creative energy that is inside each individual can never be extinguished, regardless of age or the constraints imposed by their physical bodies. Even though I’ve been through a lot in my life, I’m 62 years old now, and I haven’t lost any of my enthusiasm for painting, especially when it comes to the field of virtual art. It has been a love that has lasted throughout my whole life, in spite of all of the difficulties and problems that life has thrown at me.
In this context, the “Vitasta Cultural Festival” is being put on by the Union Ministry of Culture in collaboration with the North Zone Cultural Centre in Patiala. This event, which takes its name from the old Vedic term for the Jhelum River, is part of the Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav project and strives to bring Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of ‘Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat’ (One India, Great India) to reality.
