Niskha Bharadwaj

My inspiration for this piece of work was from the painting ‘War and Peace’ by Hendra Gunawan (Born: 11th June 1918. Died: Unknown). Hendra Gunawan was a fighter in the 1940s, having links to the Communist Party’s (Indonesia) cultural organisation, called the LEKRA. The painting consists of many different cool, peaceful colours like blues and greens, but also incorporates some warm, bright tones in, creating a meaningful contrast between war and peace. The painting shares a backstory, with the foreground being two revolutionary fighters - it looks almost as if they were in the middle of a war, but then stopped to look at the beautiful view and the greatness of the mountain, or Gunung in Bahasa Indonesia.

I have chosen the numbers ‘1’, ‘9’, ‘4’ and ‘7’ to represent the year 1947, in which India gained independence; this date is important to me because I come from India. However, India only gained independence through a war, which is why I chose this date when I looked at the painting, as I was instantly reminded of my country. The bright orange of the background is also present in the Indian flag, as well as the slightly paler orange of the clouds perched on the mountain. The numbers are in a vertical line down the right of the painting, but staggered so that it has the order and ‘discipline’ of a war troop but also is quite relaxed compared to the uptightness of a straight line, creating the peaceful and easy feel to the artwork.

My motif is a recreation of the blue chakra wheel that centres the Indian Flag – it’s an important symbol to me as that is a common symbol of peace in India, and I feel like that really stood out to me. My work is a recreation of War and Peace, but in my eyes it is an artwork representing India.​