Shefalee Jain
 

New Delhi based artist, educator and illustrator Shefalee Jain received her bachelors (2001–2005) and masters (2005–2007) degree from the Faculty of Fine Arts, Vadodara. She holds a practice-based PhD in Visual Art from Ambedkar University, New Delhi where she taught as Assistant Professor of Visual Art at the School of Culture and Creative Expressions (2012–2022). Shefalee is the co-founder of BlueJackal, a platform for engaging with and creating visual narratives, comics, picture books and initiating dialogue and learning in this context through interactive programs. She is also co-founder and co-editor of the zine Drawing Resistance. She has published her illustrations and writing with Muskaan (Bhopal), Eklavya (Bhopal), DC books (Kottayam), BlueJackal(Delhi/Pune) and Tulika (Chennai) publishers. She writes a regular column titled' Kala ke Aayam' (Hindi) on art in Chakmak magazine published by Eklavya, Bhopal.

 

Jain’s project is an adaptation of ‘Dohri Joon’, a folktale from Rajasthan into a 15-20-minute stop motion animation. The folktale has been collected and retold by the well-known researcher from Rajasthan, Vijaydan Detha. This animation will be realised in collaboration with Shivi Bhatnagar, a professional cinematographer and editor based in Delhi. The folktale is about a seth and sethani who betray their daughter in their greed for dowry. They bring her up as a boy and marry 'him' off, but after the marriage the two girls take matters in their own hands. They disown their oppressive upper caste names and set out to forge a new life together. Using Detha’s story as an entry point Jain seeks to grapple with the starkly beautiful yet intensely patriarchal and caste-ridden landscape of Rajasthan and in particular with her own paternal grandfather's town Sheogunj. Using elements of the folktale in the writing of the script, Jain will explore the challenge it offers to the normatives of patriarchy, heterosexuality and caste hegemony, thus attempting to make it speak to the present. By bringing together local stories, sounds and images from in and around Sheogunj, Jain will set the stage for her animation that will include experimenting with drawings, cut-outs and collages, photography, and puppetry techniques. As part of her research, she will also delve into the study of early animation techniques and look at contemporary innovators in stop-motion from across the world.

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(Profile Photo Credit: Gauri Gill)

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Kulpreet Singh

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Kulpreet Singh is a Patiala-based artist, who completed his bachelors in Fine Arts, Political Science & Physical Education from Punjabi University, Patiala, in 2006. His early practice was largely devoted to landscape studies and portraits, and during this time he won several national level competitions in cartooning.  While always driven by the need to explore the transformative power of art in society, it was only in 2010 that he started exploring the social angle to art making which led him to doing his masters in Fine Arts, also from Punjabi University. He has since been engaged in bringing together performance and film with other medium-based practices such as drawing, printmaking and installation. He briefly taught art at the Delhi Public School in Faridabad (2016-17). He has participated in several workshops and group shows across India, including Annual Art Exhibition organised by Chandigarh Lalit Kala Akademi in collaboration with Bharat Bhavan at Bharat Bhavan Bhopal (2019); Artist in Residence at Studio Pannadwar, Thane, Mumbai, as part of International Print Exchange Programme, India; and An Imaginal Affair, organized by Artamour held at The Stainless Gallery, New Delhi (both 2021). His solo shows include Pictorial Expression (2010) at Museum Art Gallery, Chandigarh; and Contemplation (2019) sponsored by Punjab Lalit Kala Akademi, at Punjab Kala Bhawan, Chandigarh.

 

Singh’s project titled Indelible Black Marks IV - Seva (Social Service) is part of his ongoing engagement with finding ways of sharing his personal and collective grief, especially to try and articulate it in artistic and non-violent ways. This drive comes from his experience of witnessing the peaceful protests turning violent during the farmers’ protests in 2020, and his own encounters while doing seva (or service) during the pandemic. The current project in a similar manner is an exploration of grief, violence and trauma, where he shifts the focus to engaging with the death of people, and loss of flora and fauna, due to environmental issues. The project will involve fieldwork to gather data on lost flora and fauna, and to collect clothes and stories from families of those who have died due to the impact of environmental degradation. The work will be developed into a multimedia installation and performance, and also be documented and made into a film upon completion.

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