In a fast-paced world where admiring gazes are replaced by quick scrolls and likes, India walks towards a contradictory counter-culture. This culture is called the Slow Art Movement.
The term ‘SlowArt’ was coined by an American artist, Gregory Slowinski, in 1978. He believed that art was more than mere visual beauty. For him, it was a mindful practice of introspection, authenticity and connection. Therefore, Gregory saw “SlowArt” as a philosophy of life. Later on in the year 2009, Phil Terry (the founder of Reading Odyssey. It is a nonprofit organisation that focuses on lifelong learning experiences through shared exploration of books), turned this philosophy into a worldwide movement. He announced April 11 as Slow Art Day. This day is to inspire the museum goers to take time to resonate with and admire a few artworks instead of hurriedly going through dozens of them. Little by little, the slow art movement is spreading its roots in India. One such Indian city is Delhi.
A Gentle Revolution in the Capital
In a cosmopolitan city like Delhi, the noise of traffic, deadlines and constant notifications has made people’s lives into a quest to find moments of stillness. This has turned art galleries and wellness studios into a mindfulness and healing centres where art is not just a visual delight.
Various institutions like Kiran Nadar Museum of Art (KNMA), Therapy Palette, and Mindful Escapes Studio, etcetera are offering workshops. These workshops combine art with introspection and meditation. The participants paint, sculpt, do pottery, or even crochet, as a process of escaping chaos and move towards peace and introspection. This approach of creating art as meditation instead of chasing perfection is called ‘mindful art’. It motivates the people to slow down, breath and let creativity flow naturally just for the sake of creating and spending time with oneself.
Using art as a form of meditation has surprising benefits. Art therapists across the world state that spening time with colours and textures promotes emotional awareness, boosts serotonin levels and helps in reducing anxiety. We live in a world where everything feels like a competition that you are expected to win, these creative pauses are seen as powerful forms of self-care.
Art That Waits for You
One of the most prominent examples of art as a moment of peace is the ‘Slow Is The New Urgent’ exhibition at the KNMA Art Passage. It is arranged in a crowded mall and invites the visitors to step aside from the worldly chaos and witness art at their own pace. The exhibition is laced with many symbolic motifs and multisensory (involving more than one sense, example audio combined with visual art) features. ‘Slow Is The New Urgent’ showcases various themes including stillness, persistence, environmental decay, digital surveillance, etc.
The intend of the demonstration is to urge the viewers to slow down, look closer, think deeper and most importantly, to be simply present in the moment.
From Museums to Communities
Other than galleries, community events also help in promoting this practice in India. Last year in Februry, Gallery Art Motif hosted Delhi’s first Slow Art Day. There visitors were encouraged to spend a good amount of time with the abstract artworks. Later on, they gathered over lunch to discuss and share insights. The aim was to foster honest connections between the observer and the art as well as among the people themselves. This promoted the idea that art is not just observed to interpret or critisize it but also to feel drawn to what connects with you on a deeper level.
A Movement Across The Nation
As Delhi leads this transformation, many other cities are accepting this philosophy as well. The slow sketching sessions in the parts of Bengaluru and meditative clay workshops of Rishikesh are examples of more people in the county are wholeheartedly accepting the peacefulness of unrushed creations. In a culturally rich county like India where patience has always been seen as a virtue, slow art feels like a morden way of returning back to home.
Impact and the Messege
The rise of slow art in India indicates and encourages reawakening of attention. When not rushed, people are acknowledging the beauty and peacefulness of being present in the moment. Rather than worrying over what to do and what might be, people are choosing to completely exist in the now. They are rediscovering that art does not as for urgency but invites intimacy and connection within self and the world around us.
As the galleries and communities of Delhi witness mindful artists and reflective viewers, the people are moving towards the notion that slowing down is not about waisting time. It is an act of reclaiming it as your own. Nowadays when everything is on the tip of your fingers and stepping back feels like being left behind, slow art urges us to understand that sometimes the most prominent form of progress is in stillness, being present, and in letting art and creativity flow within you without any pressure or deadlines. The one who is connect to the nature and art, is connected to oneself.
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