I paint what stays with me long after I've put my camera down. At Kumbh Mela, I watched four children dressed as deities Lakshmi, Shiva, and others; standing at the river's edge, holding offerings, completely at ease in their divine costumes. There was something about their unguarded joy, mixed with the weight of what they represented, that I couldn't let go of.
This painting took several months to complete, built up slowly in evening sessions between work and other responsibilities. I worked in watercolour with gold and white gouache for the zari detailing wanting the costumes to carry the same richness I remembered seeing that morning by the Ganga.
I am a Bengali, Mumbai based watercolourist, and this work sits within a growing body of paintings exploring devotion, childhood, and the textures of everyday Indian life. It is, in many ways, my own offering made the only way I know how, brushstroke by brushstroke.