Chennai: Draped in Madras checks, wearing long necklaces, adorning their hair with ‘savari’ and flowers. A group of women sits under a tree in the evening as they sip coffee from a davara and tumbler. They chat away till the coffee goes cold.Several decades later, their way of life has become aesthetics. “We see Madras checks as part of interiors, and davaras being used for ‘vintage’ feels in cafes. This modernisation is how Madras became Chennai. This is what I tried to capture in my series of paintings,” says Sathya N Prabhu, an artist.Celebrating the spirit and culture of Chennai, Sathya’s piece is one of the many featured at Inko Centre’s art exhibition titled ‘Legacies – Memory, Traditions, Culture: Madras to Chennai’. The exhibition features a variety of pieces such as installations, sketches, paintings, sculptures, and etchings, including a childhood memory of flying kites in Madras reimagined through Madras checks; a sculptor’s intricate brass and copper depictions of birds and animals; and the lives of fisherfolk in north Chennai, done by eight Chennai-based artists who revisit the city’s past and present.The exhibition is open to all from 9am to 6pm till Sept 22, free of cost.Another attempt to reimagine Madras as Chennai is an art installation by Karthikeyan Pitchaimallian, featuring colourful Madras checks in the background, with structures resembling two skylines and a mirror in between. “When a person stands in front of this installation, they become a part of the piece; similar to how Chennai is accepting of new people and makes them part of the city. The checks in the background serve as a reminder of how Madras has always been welcoming of new people,” said Karthikeyan Pitchaimallian, sculptor and painter.The exhibition, curated by art historian Ashrafi Bhagat, features artists Preethi Umapathy, Sathya Prabhu N, Dilip Kumar Kesavan, Rajesh R V, Ramesh, Karthikeyan Pitchaimallian, Kirubakaran N, and Raviram Ramakrishnan.For painter Preethi Umapathy, the city’s movements have inspired her pieces. “Whenever I see the way people walk and move in T Nagar’s shopping streets, in crowds, I’m reminded of murmuration, a natural phenomenon where birds fly together in a synchronised manner. And it almost feels like a dance. In that moment, we’re all one and together, and I’ve tried to capture that feeling in one of my pieces,” she said.“Although the city’s official name changed to Chennai in 1996, the legacy of Madras continues to shape its identity. The exhibition aims to foreground this legacy through the perspective of artists reflecting the urban environment, textile traditions, artistic pedagogy, architectural styles, and performing arts,” said Ashrafi Bhagat, curator.
