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2.15 Evoke
Finding Your Artist

Aman's Art Journal

There’s a memory from school that always sticks with me. It was a social science lesson, and we were supposed to bring a map of India. I forgot mine, so just before the teacher walked in, I quickly drew it myself. When she saw it, she was genuinely impressed. She said, "You’ve got a good hand for drawing." That was the first time I realised I might have a natural talent for art. But despite that moment, I didn’t pursue it at the time. Life took me in other directions—like graduate studies—partly because I didn’t have the right support system to prioritise art over other subjects that were seen as more ‘practical’ or ‘promising’ for a career.

Finding my support system

Art didn’t leave me, though. In college, I began making tattoos and doodling on my friends’ phone covers. One friend even asked me to do wall art in his home, and that experience was a revelation. When the mural was finished, I couldn’t believe I had created it myself. My friend recorded the process, and when others saw the video, they were just as amazed. That was a pivotal moment—it gave me the confidence I needed to believe I could actually do something with art. So, I applied to an art program and was accepted. 

Finding my style

The first year of the program coincided with the lockdown, so it was a slow start. The second year didn’t really pick up either. But by the third year, things changed. I was told to catch up for all the lost time, so I began focusing heavily on still life. But it didn’t quite resonate with me. Then I discovered Impressionism, and the freedom it offered to experiment with colour and capture the hues of real-life spaces felt liberating. I began working with portraits and landscapes, allowing the colours and brushstrokes to come together. I didn’t want to smudge the paint; I wanted to preserve the brushstrokes.

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My teachers encouraged me to focus on the process rather than the final product. They advised me not to overthink, and gradually, I stopped worrying about the end result. I began experimenting with monochromes—sometimes using two colours—and I was fascinated by how many tones and volumes could emerge from just one. I played with this idea so that, from a distance, you could see the shape, but up close, it was all about the strokes.

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One day, back home, I came across a woven cloth created by my grandmother and realised that my art was similar to what she had woven. Unconsciously, her patterns had found their way into my creations. Maybe she always knew, because from the very beginning, she was my greatest supporter, constantly encouraging me to never give up on art.

Aman Bavariya_GrandmotherWeave

Aman's Grandmother's Weave

Finding my themes

I was always aware of the social issues around me, like untouchability, but I realised that I couldn’t communicate that experience authentically because I hadn’t lived it. So, I turned my focus to things closer to home. I began to explore abandoned houses and forgotten spaces around me, wanting to show the beauty and the stories in these overlooked places. It became more about offering a new way of seeing than simply capturing the decay.

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As my style evolves, I want to experiment with materials. Currently, I work with acrylic on canvas, and next, I plan to explore textile on textile, bringing it closer to my grandmother's medium.

Finding my process

Learning from others has always been important to me. I’ve always admired how teachers and mentors share knowledge and push you to go further. At first, I was hesitant to approach my teachers. I’d only show them my work once it was finished. But they encouraged me to critique my own work first—to reflect on what I liked and didn’t like about it before seeking their feedback. This process helped me become more self-reflective and confident in my practice, and I continue to do this in different ways. After spending hours creating, I spend an equal amount of time simply looking at what I’ve made, finding new meanings and layers in the process. 

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In terms of the setting when I am painting, I usually listen to Ghulam Ali’s ghazals from the '80s and '90s. They allow my mind to wander, and the things I observe throughout the day—whether real or imagined—seep into my paintings in ways I don’t always expect.

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Aman Kuman Bavarıya, 2024

Acrylic on canvas, 36" x 48"

This was the first artwork I created that combines monochrome and Impressionism. It depicts an abandoned space in front of my house. When fabrics give way, their threads begin to show, and I’ve incorporated threads into the art to symbolise this. It captures the breakdown of the structure over time. The cylindrical shape in the middle is the door to my house, and the window-like gaps represent bricks breaking away from decaying walls.

Aman Kuman Bavarıya, 2024

Acrylic on canvas, 36" x 48"

This artwork represents the narrow alleys outside my house, superimposed with real and imagined beings and shapes around me. You know how sometimes we see shapes in the clouds? I enjoy finding them in the folds of sheets, and this artwork includes those observations. It’s curious how our minds draw connections from so many different things, sometimes without us even realising it.

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Aman Kuman Bavarıya, 2023

Acrylic on canvas, 24" x 36"

This artwork comes from an earlier phase of my work when I was using a lot of colour. It depicts a woman standing alone in a vast, empty landscape, symbolising the isolation that menstruating women often experience in some cultures. I wanted to show how they’re often excluded from certain spaces, like being kept away from the kitchen during their cycle, and the emotional impact of that separation.

Aman Kuman Bavarıya, 2024

Acrylic on canvas, 30" x 36"

In this work, I used the dahlia flower to symbolise the transition from childhood to adolescence. Instead of using faces, I focused on the blooming flower to capture the essence of adolescence, as dahlias bloom when they reach that stage. It was also an experiment in visual play, combining my knowledge of botany with my art.

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As I continue to grow as an artist, I’m drawn to the intersection of space, history, and personal memory, aiming to invite others to find beauty in the abandoned, the forgotten, and the overlooked.

MYSTICETI & FRIENDS

Aman is one of the four artists selected for the ART programme, Edition 1, co-curated by Terrain.art and Mysticeti. The programme aims to equip emerging art practitioners from South Asia with the tools to present their work and connect it to broader trends in the art world.

Aman Kumar Bavariya is an artist from Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh. His work focuses on monochrome paintings, exploring colour values, perspective, and the subtleties of everyday life. 

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terrain.art is an online platform showcasing emerging physical and digital contemporary art from South Asia. It aims to build a global ecosystem that highlights artistic practices, provides accessible educational resources, and centralises archival processes.

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