A Journey into Nature and Memory
Kolkata, August 2025 – Emami Art presents āranyaka: Arunima Choudhury’s Recent Works on Nature, a deeply immersive solo exhibition by veteran artist Arunima Choudhury. Running from June 27 to August 9, 2025, the show offers a contemplative look at the artist’s connection to nature through handmade paper, eco-prints, and textile-based compositions.
| Event Detail | Description |
|---|---|
| Exhibition Title | āranyaka: Arunima Choudhury’s Recent Works on Nature |
| Artist | Arunima Choudhury |
| Venue | Emami Art, Kolkata Centre for Creativity |
| Location | 777, Anandapur EM Bypass, Kolkata |
| Dates | June 27 – August 9, 2025 |
| Timings | 11:00 AM – 7:00 PM (Closed on Sundays) |
| Admission | Free Entry |
| Public Programme | August 2, 2025 – Artist Talk with Arunima Choudhury, Samik Bandyopadhyay & Soumik Nandy Majumdar |
The Meaning Behind ‘āranyaka’
The collection is also called ‘Āranyaka’, which means “of the forest” in Sanskrit, a title that resonates with Arunima’s her childhood spent in the tea estates and hills of North Bengal. Her pieces are created with earth-toned dies, made of leaf impressions and plant-dyed fabrics that are not just visual works but living memoirs of the natural world.
The Eco-Printing Process
Choudhury uses the eco-printing process to boil leaves, flowers and natural dyes before they are placed on rice paper and cotton for a direct transfer of organic forms. It seems as though eucalyptus, rose petals, ferns and bark leave behind soft, abstract impressions that she enhances with brushwork, charcoal, or hand-stitching. Each piece is a quiet composition of memory, time, and fragility.
Themes of Loss, Regeneration, and Quiet Resilience
The exhibition is not overtly political, but the environmental undertone is unmistakable. These themes are further explored in the new series including disappearing, surviving and existing within nature and their unique resistance to modernity. Some works reference ecological loss with faded imprints and earthy textures, while others offer symbols of regeneration, healing, or even metaphorical life.
Blending Art with Botanical Exploration
Choudhury started experimenting with DIY pigments from natural materials in 2006. She follows a practice of drawing that is inseparable from the work she does in her garden; her sketchbooks contain detailed notes on plants, mineral dyes and colour combinations. This scientific curiosity, fused with artistic intuition, gives her work a sense of authenticity and rootedness.
A Meditative Viewing Experience
The set design for the exhibition invites viewers to spend their time inside. Paper scrolls, botanical prints on translucent cloth, delicate layers of pigment create a rhythm of presence and absence. Instead of visual spectacle, the focus is on texture, material, and intimate discovery.
Artist Talk and Public Interaction
As part of the exhibition, Emami Art will host a public conversation on August 2, featuring Arunima Choudhury in discussion with noted art critic Samik Bandyopadhyay and art historian Soumik Nandy Majumdar. The session aims to unpack her artistic language, her material choices, and her lifelong relationship with nature.
A Life of Art and Reflection
Arunima Choudhury Born in 1960, Arunima had a five-decade journey. Trained at the Indian College of Arts & Draftsmanship and later at Chitrabani in graphic design; always worked across multiple disciplines such as painting, installation, collage and now textile-based work. Past exhibitions like The Dark Edge of Green (2022) and Nature As I See (2020) provided more rigid boundaries around these themes. Āranyaka instead emphasizes softness, slowness and organic language.
An Ecological Aesthetic for the Present
In an era of mounting environmental catastrophe, Choudhury’s work constitutes a quiet form of activism. Rather than dramatic gestures, her art offers tender reflection. Her methods — natural dyes, botanical printing, handmade materials — are not simply design decisions but an entire sustainability and earth-loving ethos.
Conclusion: A Forest of Memory
āranyaka is more than an exhibition; it is a gentle act of remembrance. Through stains, silhouettes, and silences, Arunima Choudhury constructs a forest of memory—one that invites us to notice, pause, and reconnect. Her art doesn’t demand attention; it rewards those who give it.
