2020 marks a special year in mankind’s history and India’s destiny. Often used in reference to development goals, 2020 has taught us to never take things for granted. While humanity has made major leaps, even conquering outer space, nature has shown us how little we know about it, and how little we appreciate what we have. 2020 has taught us to review our values. We have suffered but also been comforted, and we have learned to acknowledge that irrespective of our joys and sorrows, our triumphs and our failures, the world will not stop, it will go on.
It is in celebration of this that we have organised The World Will Go On, with an online viewing room at dagworld.com, and an exhibition at our New Delhi gallery at The Claridges. Billed a Gratitude Sale, it reaffirms that irrespective of any disruptions, the cycles of life, of seasons, remain constant. That no matter how fast-paced our lives had become, or how inward they might have turned in recent times, there are snatches of happiness, of bliss even, that we can seek.
As we mark the start of India’s festive season, it is time for us to take stock of this. Bumper harvests have been collected, clear skies and clearer rivers promise bounty, the summer heat is past, there is, once more, a sense of nature’s plenitude. The gods are amidst us, and it is time to hear their stories, to rejoice in the simple pleasures of life, and to offer gratitude for it.
Gratitude Sale acknowledges this ode to the wisdom of the past through parables and myths, ways the artists have navigated to hold up a mirror for us. Carefully selected works acknowledge the sacred sanctity of the Indian civilisation, interspersed with the many reasons we have to be grateful for that which we have.
The World Will Go On presents a glimpse of artistic creativity, ingenuity and power and serves to remind us to renew our commitment to life in a world that, truly, will go on…
