Hyderabad: An artist's humane touch during pandemic times

Hyderabad: Fawad Tamkanat, a renowned artist from the city has raised funds through charity shows during the pandemic. As he could not organise charity shows which he does during normal times, he went virtual to raise funds through art camp.

During the pandemic, the artist had curated a big charity show by garnering 100 artists from across the world. He closely works with foundations such as Kushi Foundation to help girl children for education and other necessities for them.

He organised a charity show to help mentally challenged girl children during the pandemic, as he could not organise charity shows physically. Raised funds through art camp and distributed ration kits among the needy.

Fawad Tamkanat is a renowned name in India and is among the foremost painters to emerge from Hyderabad. Back then in the 70s, paintings or any art subjects were unheard of in schools. His interest to paint has grown up from school days and continues to grow as an artist.

"I have been painting for more than four decades now, and have worked around various socio-economic issues. I grew up in Hyderabad, when it was just fresh out of the Nizam's reign, and was still quite wealthy. I saw the Old City deteriorate, and residents go from riches to rags. It left an indelible mark on me, and gradually reflected in my paintings, too."

He is fascinated by the chaotic streetscapes of Hyderabad, sharing space with jostling auto-rickshaws, people sandwiched between old crumbling buildings and domes of ageing edifices, crackling under the sound and pressure of increasing traffic. The newly-fast growing culture of malls also inspires him.

"Every year I curate 2-3 charity shows with organisers and I donated artworks worth up to Rs 15 lakh. Mostly I work for girl child as many people don't take care of children, especially girl children in India which is pathetic.

I raise funds through my art for education, better living, and scholarships for higher studies, so in this particular area we have to work and that's why I'm concentrating on such camps.

I also help during natural calamities not only in the city but also abroad. He recalls a painting he worked on where a young girl pulling a rickshaw picking garbage to earn a living.

He observes his subjects, even follows them around for days, to understand them better and be able to enunciate those issues through his imagery. He paints what he sees around like, old men pulling rickshaws at the Charminar to fend for themselves.

He has had more than 100 solo exhibitions abroad and he worked with many famous painters and printmakers and installation artists in Europe when invited in 1996. Since then he has been there for solo shows, artist-in-residence, art workshops and group shows working with European artists and promoters in Scandinavian countries.

"Today prominent art collector in Europe and the US has my work. They follow my work and visit my studio whenever I paint a new series. I have travelled more than 30 countries to exhibit my art and I had 100 shows worldwide.

Travelling is a great experience to learn new things and many times my work has been inspired because of travelling. " Fawad says that art is his way of venting and reacting to situations to talk about problems that we know exist, but hesitate to acknowledge or talk about.

"My art is semi-abstract and I avoid details. I leave it to people to decipher or interpret the pieces. I don't tell them what to make of them."