Page 20 - TheArtsTrust Krishen Khanna

above left: Khanna in Born on July 5, 1925, Khanna is one of the
London in 1938
above right: As a most revered artists in the discourse of Modern
young man Indian Art, and hailed as the ‘Last Progressive’.
opposite above: Dabbling
in English theatre in school At 100 years of age, his oeuvre is set in a society
opposite below: that has seen nearly unimaginable changes, and
The Khanna clan in the his work has chronicled 20th and 21st century
early 1950s
India like no other artist. At the heart of his
diverse practice lies an unwavering devotion
to the subaltern, the daily wage earner, the street musician, the migrant
labourer and those dwelling on the margins. Khanna has emphatically and
persistently addressed them, presenting their lives with dignity, beauty and
gravitas. Through these figures, revisited across time and series, he offers
not only a reflection on contemporary Indian life but also a deeply personal
narrative—one in which memory, imagination, and social consciousness are
in constant dialogue.
This profound kinship with those who live in quiet resilience is not
incidental. It is rooted in the formative years of his life, marked by migration
and the slow forging of belonging in the unfamiliar. Like many young Indians
from Punjab, the artist experienced the trauma of Partition as it tore into the
fabric of everyday life.

18 19