Hindustan Times 13 November 2021
The scars of Partition swim across the Chenab to envisage a dawn of healing in the paintings of Mohinder ThukralNirupama Dutt/HTSome scars take a lifetime to heal and so it is in the paintings of Mohinder Thukral, 76. He crossed the blood-red waters of the Chenab riding on the backs of his mother and aunt to an unknown shore of safety as a one-year-old child.The stories he grew up with as a child were those of loss and longing. These are mirrored in his paintings which make the exhibition called ‘Vandd’ (the divide), which opened at the Punjab Kala Bhawan Gallery on Friday evening amid a Kavishri performance by the Inqlabi Kavishri Jatha.Mounted on the walls are soulful works of the painter who made a life for himself in Jalandhar as a wrestler and surprisingly a commercial painter who certainly had a way with the brush he wielded in hand.These paintings which reflect human tragedy, however, have nothing to do with commerce but are a cry for peace lest such horrors be revisited time and again.Diwan Manna, president of the Punjab Lalit Kala Akademi, says: “The exhibition is the result of a serious introspection of the painful memories of the brutal happenings of the forgettable past.”“With this exhibition, the Akademi intends to contribute in the continuation of a dialogue by revisiting the wounds of the unpleasant past not to hurt but to find ways of healing,” Manna adds.Introducing the works and life of the artist, author Des Raj Kali says: “No true artist can remain untouched by the events of the times. It is the intensity of the feelings that transforms itself into art carrying the burden of the ghosts of the past to chart out a new path for the future.”A book on the artworks of the painter with an essay by Kali was also released at the opening of the show. The exhibition will remain open for view till November 19, from 11am to 7 pm daily.
