We catch up with five young artists who are leading a life of their own, doing what they love, and contributing in any way they can for a better tomorrow.
Featuring:
Katyani, 22, Graphic Designer & Tattoo Artist @rambunctiousragamuffin
Neelansh, 22, Computer Science Engineer and Photographer@neelanshb
Pia, 30, Illustrator & Comic Book Artist @pi_alize
Moksh, 18, Student & Aspiring Model@mokshsuri
Eshna, 21, Hoop Dancer @eshna05
Youth is an attitude, a relationship to freedom and self-expression. How much of it is prevalent in the current scenario of our country, according to you? Are we often misunderstood as rebels? How can we grow and make changes to be a better society than we are today?
Katyani: The ‘Youth’ in our country is building its own culture either as a reaction or response to the culture that we grew up in with the tools that we have. It can be misunderstood as rebellion but it’s important not to lose the message underneath which welcomes growth and innovation. A society where everyone can express themselves freely is a more egalitarian society.
Tell us about your art?
Katyani: Art is therapy for me as being an adult in the present comes with such a huge productivity complex and anxiety regarding fulfilling a certain role in society and in social media. This voyeuristic approach to life is extremely unhealthy in my perspective and I feel to simply stay sane I need to keep creating. It helps me express myself emotionally and distracts from stress in general, soothing the mind; a kind of meditation. Tattooing requires me to be way more patient than I naturally am. I usually start with a small concept or idea and just delve into it and it grows into something bigger and keeps evolving. Sometimes these can go onto series of illustrations or just one tattoo design so I have learned to adapt one from the other.
What would your message be for the youth of the country?
Katyani: Channel your energy into something positive.
Katyani is wearing: @hm
Youth is an attitude, a relationship to freedom and self-expression. How much of it is prevalent in the current scenario of our country, according to you? Are we often misunderstood as rebels? How can we grow and make changes to be a better society than we are today?
Neelansh: I’ll answer this in very real premises, Youth of this country sums up to 65% of the entire population that is 15% more than half the population of this great nation. To put in perspective we are in a big number and we are angry; the two major powers that the youth is blessed with are, energy and time, time to learn, to gain knowledge, to pull ourselves out of ignorance and towards acceptance, towards tolerance and contentment and energy to construct changes. What we do not like and what pisses us off is being treated as idiots, we hear and see through the bullshit of the modern day politics and we have just had enough. Anything that you do anything whether it’s coloring your hair, wearing what you want, speaking about gender diversity or about what you identify as is act of defiance against the cold, useless norms that is the great burden of our society; does this means we’re wrong? No. Does this mean we are going to be stopped and oppressed? Hell No!
What changes would you like to see in the country right now and what are you doing to make it happen?
Neelansh: To be very honest, I am of a belief that there is no greater growth than that which is personal. I’ll explain this with a reference, in the subatomic level of our reality every particle is in a harmony and because of that harmony which some may perceive as chaos our existence came to be; In order to construct something massive, something greater than yourself, harmony is what we need. A sense of complete personal growth of an individual (if they have the privilege to do so) is it’s their own will to educate themselves, to empower themselves and others around them. Knowledge is dynamic it isn’t static, that means what you’ve learned can be unlearned when it’s no longer necessary and in its place something immediate and important can be put, this is the only way we as a society can get out of ignorance and this will serve as foundation for a better more tolerant tomorrow.
What would your message be for the youth of the country?
Neelansh: I actually have a few messages for everyone. To the people in power – Do your damn jobs! To the elder generation – Do not impose what you couldn’t achieve on to your kids, respect them as an individual. Trust me you would want to see them when you are old and incapable. To the youth – Find what you want to do, take your time it’s okay there is no such rush, and when you do find out what you want to do, do not let anyone tell you any different; make a decision and commit to it. Take time out for your family even if you can barely stand them. To the kids – For the love of god, play outside, ride a bike, play till your legs give up and then play some more. Trust me the iPad is not going to go anywhere.
Neelansh is wearing: outfit from @gstarraw and sneakers from @adidasoriginals
Youth is an attitude, a relationship to freedom and self-expression. How much of it is prevalent in the current scenario of our country, according to you? Are we often misunderstood as rebels? How can we grow and make changes to be a better society than we are today?
Pia: It’s there – it shows up in a LOT of different ways but it’s definitely there and in a constant state of evolution. I think it’s less about being a rebel and more about people not being entirely accepting of things that are different to what they’re used to – and then labelling that as ‘rebellion’ because you don’t know what else to call it. It happens in this generation, the one before us and probably for the next one after us. As far as the betterment of society goes – actually being tolerant and accepting would make a difference. It doesn’t help that we’re functioning in a country that’s trying to meet in the middle of being archaic and cutting-edge all at once.
What changes would you like to see in the country right now and what are you personally doing to make it happen?
Pia: I think quite a few of us operate from a relatively privileged position and ideally we should constantly be trying to learn from and amplify the voices of people that have been excluded. Ordinarily, we are most accurate about our personal narratives, but as artists, we hope to include and represent as many people in our work as we can – from widely differing personal and societal contexts.This means talking about or giving the right people the platform to talk about the caste system, religious/ sexual and gender biases. Creating something that is forging a meaningful dialogue is important to me.
One small step towards a better future the youth can take?
Pia: At the risk of sounding like a life coach – live consciously, not wastefully.
Pia is wearing: outfit from @hm and sneakers from @nike
Youth’ is an attitude or, a relationship to freedom and self-expression – How much of it is prevalent in the current scenario of our country, according to you? Are we often misunderstood as rebels for the same? How can we grow and make changes to be a better society than we are today?
Moksh: The young will always be misunderstood. We just need to stop being under so much pressure to perform or excel or prove a point to our parents, esp the Indian youth. We need to take our time to grow, to experience failure and learnings. We just need to be. Something doing no harm and being you is doing enough for the society. Just be you, be young, take your time to grow. Don’t need to make sense all the time, just don’t do no harm and be nice.
What changes would you like to see in the country today? What can the youth do to make a difference?
Moksh: We lack a strong voice and enthusiasm when it comes to political participation. We fail to make use of our great ability to influence leadership in our country and actually directly influence the progress it makes. We fail to stand up against the religiousness that has overpowered our political system and prevent it from effective progress and change. We need to be able to project our openness and cultural acceptance to major influencers and policymakers. Otherwise, it’s just a waste of our democratic rights and powers. I would like to see more youth come together and participate in politic, to care about politics more than we do now. It is, after all, our future. Don’t leave it into the hands of the those who only look at is as a money making machine, participate and change it.
One advice for the youth of the country?
Moksh: Use your social media platform to spread awareness, whether it’s political, educational, social etc, use it for more.
Moksh is wearing: outfit and sneakers from @adidasoriginals
What is it about today’s street culture that excites you?
Eshna: The freedom. The community. The atmosphere. No matter which city I go to when I see the cipher jams and the battles, I get goosebumps EVERY SINGLE TIME! The fashion, the music, the artists, the audience, the vibe, everything influencing each other. It’s such a harmonious way of living, with complete freedom of expression. A lot of times these jams are also organized to fund an artist or to encourage the whole dance culture in India. Isn’t that beautiful?
What is modern India like? Does the spirit of the country or the city you live in feed into your work?
Eshna: Modern India is still very poor. A huge part of modern India is not on Instagram to read this post or to face the trivial challenges we face. We are very privileged people, but that privilege comes with a responsibility. As an artist, the least I could do is take my art to the streets, for everybody to see, rich or poor. If busking was legal in India, the streets would be my home. Sometimes when I spin my hoops outdoors, a bunch of kids gather around, floored and amazed. They’ve never seen something like this before. Their spirit is what I feed on. For those kids who drop out of school at a young age, whose empty minds wander into crime and violence. If only they knew that there are other ways, if only they were exposed to a better world. Makes me want to work harder so that one day I could change one life, if not many.
Did you feel the need to add hoops to your dance?
Eshna: I picked hooping, to run away from the fear of being watched. When I was in school dancing was growing in popularity and the Danceworx kids super popular. I wanted to join some classes too, but I didn’t like being watched or judged. So I picked the hoop, to run away from the crowd. Youtube was my teacher because there I didn’t have to worry about being seen. I spent two years doing it in my room. But something was missing. That’s when I felt the need to add dance to my hooping. Everything exploded after that, it was a perfect combination. A series of art forms came next. I didn’t just try them, I obsessed over them. Capoeira, juggling, poi, acro-yoga, slackening just to name a few. But then I take a full circle and come back to my hoops. I didn’t use it for the purpose of expressing myself but rather to feel happy. It has been a few years and I already feel like a new person, I’m more ‘me’ than I ever was. My mind is a lot calmer, wiser, more open, and maybe a little more humorous.
Eshna is wearing: shirt and jumper from @hm, denims from @gstarraw and sneakers from @puma
