Preparation For A Holy Bath by Debosmita Samanta

An original painting by Debosmita Samanta.

Envisioning the mechanics of marriage as it will unfold in a particular location with a dramatic effect on the participant's own relationship to the space: This painting holds the landscape as a stage, banana leaves as a canopy enacting and situating marriage as a flamboyant gesture of social security. To identify the gathering in the middle ground of this painting, descending women in traditional attire touching each other to embrace the water actualises the act of holy bath to the bride we see in the foreground. There are the supporting characters as Debosmita has incorporated them as vernacular witnesses to the event. This painting resonates with the socio-familial diorama of marriage and kinship, holy and happy. Here, it is for art and for audiences of art to take the moral line—to witness, to feel the dichotomy and compassion, to use art to confirm us in our humanitarian role of marriage. 

Words by Kaustav Chatterjee.