Fatema Ebrahim: Paintings, Drawings, Collages

Fatema Ebrahim is a young artist, mostly self-trained. She has participated in shows in some galleries in Calcutta, but this is her first major show. Her artwork on view included some oils on canvas, and some smaller but exquisite pen and ink drawings on paper. Also included were some collages and mixed media work.

OBO Project Exhibition

Project Our Bodies (Our) Opinions, lovingly called OBO, presents an art exhibition that aims to break issues that most people would call 'taboo' and look uncomfortable about. It isn't much, just a six-month journey that has worked towards creating a forum where youngsters discuss issues that they can't elsewhere. Workshops have been held where body perception, identity and sexuality have been discussed in ways that are amenable to youngsters today, which is a better way of saying that the average teenager's patience threshold was taken into account and humoured. Art was obviously the best way to go about it, and that is what happened. The results are not groundbreaking in anyway, they're subtly shocking in a nice way. From self-portraits with a twist to almost-out-of-body experiences, the OBO art experience yielded some results that screamed out for an exhibition to happen. Not only did the participants break barriers and stigmas and mindsets and boldly go where no project participants have gone before, they left behind a bunch of work that embodies what Project OBO is truly about - to understand one's body by isolating every stereotype associated with it.
The Project OBO art exhibition aims to provide a vibrant, fun look at social issues. There shall be no awareness pamphlets. There shall be no theorizing. There shall, however, be kids with paintbrushes and opinions. They shall attempt to map Issues of Concern with the help of photography, art and craft, aided by a generous dose of enthusiasm. Additionally, visitors to the exhibition shall be able to be a part of the OBO experience by getting to make their own artwork. It isn't about understanding or cognizance or a karmic connection, not really. The Project OBO art exhibition is about, for once, living through your body. About treating it as art. And, at the sake of sounding cheesy, creating art by it, for it, and of it. Further convictions (or lack of them) regarding the coolness of the enterprise shall be discussed on the spot. Hoping to see you there to share the energy.
Project OBO is supported by Rotary Club, Inner City, Calcutta and the Lattoo Fellowship, Sri Ratan Tata Trust, New Delhi