Digital Art by Samanta Batra Mehta

Some of Samanta Batra's recent work is on display at Gallery BMB's new show, A Place Of Their Own: An exhibition of South Asian-American Diaspora Artists. Born in New Delhi, her undergraduate years were spent studying economics and information systems. She worked in the finance and international shipping industries before beginning a full-time art career. She currently lives in New York. I was instantly taken by her series of four digital photographs: The Last of the Uncolonized Lands. The dark physical beauty and psychadelic dream-like atmosphere of these images, work quickly on the eye and mind. In the background of each of the images is a dark forest of morphed leafless trees. I have seem similar computer manipulations of objects, so it's not a unique idea. However, the structured yet confused images of the trees suggest a sad and tortured mind or internal state. This is a great setting for the figures of women draped in white translucent satin-like cloth, in various dramatic poses, some on beds and others floating in space. They seem to be in various states of emotional pain or sexual longing. They are passive women, either experiencing the aftermath of events, or waiting for something to happen to them. She writes on her website, "I am interested in mapping connections between the human condition and the environment we inhabit. Using the body and abstracted organic forms as metaphor for land/earth/people, my work investigates themes in gender constructs, socio-cultural order and colonization." Her works at the exhibition clearly fit this mould. Though not groundbreaking in theme, treatment, or technique, Mehta's photographs have a beauty and power that will attract most viewers.

Three Men and a Hike

On a recent trip to Germany, my brother, Salil and close friend, Vinay, drove two hours north of Frankfurt to a small town called Glashutte. The hotel we stayed at, The Jagdorf, was a paragon of hospitality. One of the stewards, an Austrian, who served us during a luxurious three-course meal, had helped set up an Italian restaurant at the Four Seasons in Mumbai. The unexpected Mumbai connection ensured that we were treated extraordinarily well.

Though constructed in the 1980s, the Jagdorf had a warm, traditional German charm. The use of light colored wood for the staircases and furniture, created a comfortable homely feel. Reindeer motifs were all around: statues at the entrance and in the lobby, and antlers on the walls of the staircases. I saw a photograph of the hotel in winter, draped with Christmas lights in the snow; it looked like the perfect setting for a Disney movie. Our rooms consisted of two floors: the living room and the bed room upstairs. As I walked up the staircase to the beds, I remembered my childhood bunk-bed.
We arrived at the hotel on a Friday evening. The next day we went for a wonderful hike through the forests around the hotel. Vinay, who is very good at reading maps (even if they are in German), ensured that we didn't for once get lost, during our 10 kilometer adventure. Though overcast, it was the perfect weather for a hike. The occasional light rain, and the fog, were welcome companions.