Ragini, Nepli Artist

‘February is my favorite month,' she gushes, ‘You know Valentine’s Day falls in February. And that was also the month when I met Albert.’

The February romance resulted in Ragini Upadhay, one of Nepal’s leading artists tying the knot with Albert Grela, an agricultural engineer from Belgium. They married in 1991.  Today they have a 10-year-old daughter, Shivata who displays outstanding dancing talent. ‘ Lord Shiva is known for his dance, and ‘ta’ means rhythm,’ says Ragini, ‘I guess she is living upto her name.’

About her own lyrical name, she says, ‘ Many ‘raginis’ make up a ‘raga’.’ That might well be how the artist sees herself, but to others her name instantly brings to mind the image of a sensual woman with dark expressive eyes beneath a forehead decorated often with a snake ensemble and at other times with unique bindis. She’s charismatic all right. Her paintings reflect her personality, and that is of course as it should be.

‘My works mirror current trends in society,’ is how she prefers to put it. Of course one could also say that her paintings mirror her own perceptions of society as she sees it at different times. She is the original firebrand on issues concerning women and society. Realization of the great social disparity between women and men struck her at an early age and ever since she has been voicing her opinions strongly. Naturally, most of her views have been portrayed through her many paintings.

An exhibition titled, ‘Goddess and Women, Mythology and Reality’ at Goethe Institute, Kathmandu in 1997 was one of her most powerful statements regarding the hypocrisy concerning women’s place in the social structure.

Similarly, other exhibitions have been on themes pertaining to burning issues of the times. Art lovers will remember her Kathmandu exhibitions, ‘Politics, Dust and Love’ at the French Cultural Centre in 1994 and ‘ The Myth of Politics’ at NAFA, in 1995.

The Siddartha Art Gallery was venue to ‘Sensitive Women’ in 1999, ‘Ragini’s Odyssey’ in 2001 and ‘The Sun Never Dies…Buddha’s Light and Truth Shines’ in 2002. Her latest exhibition ‘ September Collection’ was held at the Moksha Art Gallery in Cross Kitchen, Lazimpat on 19^th September, 2004. ‘ I am planning an exhibition titled, ‘Samay’ around February next year,’ she reveals, ‘ It is based on the fact that nobody is immune to the vagaries of time (samay).’

Since her first exhibition in 1979 at NAFA, she has done thirty-six solo exhibitions of which fifteen were in Nepal while the rest were abroad. Her works have been exhibited in Germany, Japan, Belgium, Sweden, Taiwan, Finland, Pakistan and India. She has also participated many times in group exhibitions, both nationally and internationally. Ragini was awarded the National Exhibition Prize in 1979, 1985 and 1988 besides being awarded the Kate and Robert Wilson Prize, Bradford (U.K.) in 1986.

‘However, I feel I should get more recognition from the government,’ she laments, ‘ After all I have been in this field for almost 25 years and have achieved a lot. Can you imagine, even now the representation of women in the Royal Nepal Academy is negligible in spite of the fact that there are so many women in the field of art and culture.’

Nevertheless she thinks that she has got the message through this time and has been assured by those in power that the present status quo will change soon. If so, then all one can say is ‘bravo’ and be thankful that there are women like Ragini who, if they try, can make a lot of difference in changing discrepancies in society.

Ragini describes her works as symbolic art that is semi-figurative. Her work is unique because they are not the painting, as a layman would understand it. The medium is designated as ‘colograph’ and her works are said to be the art of hand and machine. Ragini graduated in Fine Arts from the Arts and Crafts College in Lucknow in 1982, then went on to study printing techniques at the Artists’ Corner in Lalit Kala Academy, Garhi, New Delhi (1983-1985).

In 1987 she received a Fellowship from the British Council for further studies in printmaking in Aberdeen (Scotland) and Oxford (England). In 1989 she was sponsored by the German Nepal Association for a 5 months course at the Kunste Akademy of Stuttgart in Germany, and was the guest artist at the Radier Werkstadt, Kampen, Germany in 1992, 1994 and 1996.

The gifted artist has also been visiting lecturer at the Lahti’s Fine Art Institute and Turku Fine Art Institute in Finland in 1996 as well as at the Helsingborg Museum in Sweden in 1998 and 1999. Among official collectors of her works are Bradford Museum, UK, Fine Art Academy, Lucknow, and in Kathmandu, SAARC, Tribhuvan University, Tribhuvan International Airport, Nepal Television, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other government offices, as well as the King Birendra Art Gallery. Ragini’s art also adorns the homes of private collectors all over the world.

Ragini has come a long way since the time she won first prize in a painting competition while she was in the 9^th grade in Crosshewaithe Boarding School, Allahabad. She has fond memories of her class teacher, Mrs. Kapoor, who, “used to give me grace marks so that I never failed. You see, I wasn’t too good in studies. Of course, I always got high marks in arts and crafts!” Anyway, after winning the competition, everybody including her parents and teachers started to give her due encouragement. “Our Principal hung photographs of famoius artists in my room to motivate me.” One can safely say that this must have been the turning point in her life. An important ‘Samay’ for the young Ragini. “I wish art was made a compulsory subject in all schools,” she says. “Besides providing employment to many art teachers, latent talent in children could also be brought out.”

Her father, the Late Devi Prasad Upadhay is said to have started the first Nepali newspaper called, ‘Gorkha’ published from Allahabad. He left a deep impression on young Ragini because of his philanthropic work towards struggling poets and writers. Ragini remembers fondly, “Even in thoise days he was a very liberal man. He gave me the freedom to make my own choices in life and love.” About the commercial aspects of art, this is what she says, “A businessman in India has recently commissioned MF Hussain to do one hundred paintings and is paying him one hundred crore rupees for them. It’s an investment the tycoon knows will pay back rich dividends in the coming years. It makes one wonder when such awareness will come to Nepal.” She looks forward to the day when art and artists in the country are patronized more generously by big business and government.

Of course, like everybody else she is not too enamoured by politics and politicians and does not expect much at present. In fact, one of her more famous paintings depicts numerous serpents intertwined in a circle and is titled, ‘Wheel of Corruption.’ But she feels that here in Nepal, even those who can easily afford to buy Nepalese artists’ works, do not do so. Instead they resort to hanging reproductions. It would be wise to keep in mind that art has always been a solid investment. A case in point is the fact that a Ragini painting that was available for as little as Rs. 500 a decade ago is worth at least fifty times more today.