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Young artists from the Northeast straddle the global and the local in their work. Is this the glimpse of a new aesthetic?FOR some, being from the Northeast anchors their art. Their traditional values, folk tales, old family photos and indigenous iconography become the life-sap of their work. For others, it is a take-off point to talk of other issues, the larger global picture, or the backdrop of a more personally driven narrative.Is it a distinct aesthetic that characterises this art? Does it feed off a larger philosophy rooted in nature? Arguably, a terrain as varied as the Northeast cannot be fit neatly into a box. And why should it? Hence, without forcing ethnography, we approached five young artists whose work is neither didactic nor illustrative of their identity.
Doma Lhamu Gyaltsen clearly situates herself in the latter category since her art moves from the specific to the more general-from her roots in Sikkim to an awareness of the global. A final-year Masters student, Gyaltsen graduated with a bachelor's degree in pottery from Vishwa Bharati, Santiniketan in 2008. However, she found the discipline too restrictive. "Sculpture gave me the freedom to express myself in different mediums and allowed my creativity to emerge," she says.
Gyaltsen, who descends from a holy Tibetan clan, has shown at group shows in Kolkata and Delhi. Her works are also part of collector Priya Paul's collection. The one she shows us is an installation made of safety pins, colourful PVC pipes, lights and an earthen globe. A white sheet is draped at the bottom with tree roots painted on it. "My vision of art is not restricted to a specific culture, it...