A Penchant for Paintings Poetry

Rita Jhunjhunwala's passion for writing inspired her to curate a collection of paintings that are represented by 40 poems penned by her over four decades.

- Neha Kirpal

Rita Jhunjhunwala's one-of-a-kind solo exhibition Bheegein Lakerein at the Living Traditional Centre (LTC) in New Delhi put the spotlight on her penchant for art and words on canvas. It all started with her passion for writing that inspired her to curate a collection of paintings represented by 40 of her poems penned over four decades. Every poem is represented by a painting. Her collection of poems is also getting published in the form of a coffee-table book called Bheegein Lakerein by Om Books International.

Born as Rita Kanani in a radical and non-conservative family of Kolkata that encouraged her to think independently, she completed her graduation from Calcutta University in 1977 with meritorious distinction and bagged a government scholarship. Following which she underwent training under eminent national artists and art professors like Indra Duggar, Ashish Mitra and Chitra Mazumdar from Calcutta Art College, and Vimal Das Gupta from Delhi Art College. After her marrige to Ravi Jhunjhunwala in 1978 in Delhi, her father-in-law encouraged her to take up art as a profession. Her first solo show happened in 1981 at the Sridharani Gallery, Triveni Kala Sangam and then, there was no stopping her. She just moved on in the field from then onwards.

Jhunjhunwala has done 20 solo shows, exhibitions and group shows all over India as well as in Switzerland, France, Italy, the UK and China. "So far, I have just been exhibiting my paintings. This is the first and probably the last time that I am showcasing my poems as well. My poems and paintings are both in tandem with each other. Each painting represents a poem so it is a unique confluence of my life works. The poems have been written by me over the past four decades and the paintings are comparatively recent. The paintings are my lockdown babies and the poems are my thoughts through the different phases of my life for decades," she elaborates.