Three artists, three mediums, and a multitude of stories unfolded at the latest exhibition at Galerie 88. Each of the three artists aligned with the three-word title of the exhibition — ‘Resilience, Reverie and Return’. While Prarthana Hazra, who found her way back to her printmaking practice, resonated with the last word of the exhibition’s title, Noida-based Portia Roy’s plywood cut-outs spoke of resilience, and Mausumi Roy’s sculptures harmonised with reverie.

For Portia, colour is a form of resistance, and her artistic language changed after she visited Chennai in 2022 and rediscovered the city’s embrace of bold colours. Her canvas, primarily plywood, transformed from black and white to vibrant hues that immediately attract attention. She uses colour and bold forms to speak of class divide, resilience and hope.

Prarthana returned to her first love, printmaking, and the way she documents her new journey in alphabetical order is a unique form of storytelling. This autobiographical body of work features the figure of a single woman manoeuvring a line that runs through each frame. ‘A for Attempt’, ‘B for Balance’, ‘C for Connect’, and so on until the final letter, as we embark on a path of rediscovery with Prarthana. “This body of work is all about starting from the basics. I have done more complex works in the past using 19-20 colours, and I intend to progress to that zone again,” shared Prarthana, who has taken up the challenge of showing that woodcut can be far more complex.

In Mausumi’s stoneware ceramics, dreams, myths, humans and animals merge to tell new stories. While cats feature prominently in her repertoire, a modern-day avatar of Ganesha particularly caught our attention. The sculptor lets her imagination take charge, building a world that tells fresh stories.