Smita Prabhakar talks about her journey with art in the UAE over the past 42 years

Gulf News

She is a woman on a mission – to put South Asian artists on the global map. Today, Smita Prabhakar is a name well known in the UAE’s art circles.  As the Founder and Chairperson of the Ishara Art Foundation, it was perhaps her passion that led to its approval as the first non-profit art foundation for South Asian Art in the GCC.  Read the full story here: https://gulfnews.com/friday/art-people/smita-prabhakar-talks-about-her-journey-with-art-in-the-uae-over-the-past-42-years-1.1665060679988  See more videos at https://gulfnews.com/videos Read more Gulf News stories here: https://bit.ly/2HLJ2km  Subscribe to Gulf News on YouTube and watch more of our videos: https://www.youtube.com/user/GulfNewsTV  #UAEnews #art #friday

Transcript

00:00The growth in the UAE is like an art lover's dream.

00:05You know, we have the Louvre, we have the Guggenheim coming up,

00:09look at Al-Sarkal Avenue where Ishara is,

00:12there is Jameel Arts Centre, there is the Sharjah Art Foundation.

00:16I mean, we are spoiled for choice.

00:18I wish I'd had this when I came in 1980.

00:22It would have been a dream, you know.

00:24I'm so envious of people who come today.

00:31I came to Dubai about 42 years ago.

00:37I'm from Delhi University, did my honours in psychology.

00:41It was a kind of a cultural shock to come here

00:47because I lived in Calcutta at that time.

00:50My father was in the railways because, you know, it was a little...

00:56UAE was just starting up.

00:59So we were in the throes of growth and becoming what we are today.

01:05But at that time, for a young person to be here, to make a life,

01:11it was hard work.

01:13Maybe work or a lifestyle that I really hadn't thought I would have to face.

01:20I think maybe we both, my husband Ramesh and I,

01:23we both really worked hard.

01:25But I think what that hard work did

01:28is actually allowed us to become the people that we are today.

01:32When I came, I couldn't even have a pet

01:35because we lived in an apartment.

01:37Getting used to that, then I decided,

01:39okay, I'd babysit people who were going on vacation, their pets,

01:43so that I could have a pet at least for a month or 15 days.

01:47It was a...

01:49You know, when you live at home, you live with your parents,

01:52you're used to everything being there on a platter.

01:55We come from privileged backgrounds in that sense.

01:59Coming here was actually a great life learner for me.

02:04I realized what potential I had,

02:07the opportunities that the country has given me

02:10are more, I feel, than what I would have had back if I lived in India

02:14because I would have been at that point competing with so many more people.

02:18It was a start-up in many ways for me and for the country.

02:23I think it was when I started my company in 1991,

02:28I decided to give up corporate life

02:30because I realized that between the two of us,

02:33we were both working very hard

02:35and I needed to have some time to do other things that interest me,

02:39that is, reading, art.

02:42I used to volunteer at a library once a week

02:46so that I could be in touch with books, music.

02:50I had many interests, cooking,

02:52so I didn't want to...

02:54I would go to work at 7.30, I'd come back at 9.

02:57That gave me...

02:58And we used to have only a day and a half as a weekend.

03:01It was...

03:03It just didn't allow me any growth opportunities.

03:06But once I got into art,

03:09I mean, got into working by myself from home at that point,

03:15it allowed me to develop my interests.

03:19And I remember going back to Delhi,

03:22and I think it was 1991,

03:24and there was a gallery which was in Connaught Circus in Delhi

03:29and buying my first two, three pieces from there,

03:33which I still have because they're still close to my heart

03:36because they were my first acquisitions,

03:39which I call acquisitions today,

03:41but I call buys then, right?

03:44So the world has changed.

03:46I've transitioned from buying to acquiring.

03:49So when you acquire,

03:51you are actually becoming the custodian.

03:55When you buy, you're buying to sell, to give away or to...

03:58So there's a big shift in my thinking, I would say.

04:02Now I'm a custodian of what I'm acquiring.

04:05Then I was buying perhaps just as a fad

04:09or something I wanted on my walls or whatever it was.

04:13I would say my first thing to a person would be research.

04:17Think, do, buy a print,

04:20not go and not worry about market value.

04:24This return of investment doesn't work with art.

04:28I have not sold a single piece that I've bought.

04:31They're still there.

04:33It's my journey as a person,

04:36and it's like photographs.

04:38You don't throw away photographs.

04:40You look at them, you say,

04:42how beautiful I looked when I was young,

04:44or look at my jawline.

04:46So you look at these works and you say,

04:48ah, I went to Connaught Circus,

04:51and I bought these four works.

04:53They are part of my life,

04:55and they will be part of my life,

04:57always, till I am alive.

04:59So that's what it is.

05:01I am very proud to say that I have non-profit status

05:04from the Community Development Authority.

05:08Our mission is not to be involved

05:13in anything that's transactional or money-oriented.

05:17We hope that because of the fact

05:21that an artist has the possibility of showing with us

05:25and has the possibility of a worldwide audience,

05:28because that's what the UAE caters to,

05:31to a worldwide audience today,

05:34that they have the opportunity

05:37to be targeted by a gallerist,

05:40by an institution, by a collector,

05:43who will include them in their collections

05:47or in their gallery roster

05:50or in the museum collection

05:52and therefore gain fame and fortune.

05:55That is not for us to do.

05:57Our mission is very clear.

05:59It is to showcase the best of that,

06:03and young, experimental,

06:06alongside people who are very, very well-established.

06:10For example, our last show was Jitish.

06:13Jitish Kalat is a very, very established artist.

06:18He is represented in all the collections,

06:22majority of the big collections worldwide.

06:25He's a dear friend, but his work,

06:28you know, the proudest moment was

06:31when he came and he has gifted us a small gift,

06:35which is a compass, which is in the floor of Ishara,

06:38and he's there for perpetuity now,

06:40till we will exist in that space.

06:42And for a dear friend and an artist of his stature

06:46to believe in us, to be able to put that thing down,

06:50he's actually giving me his blessing to say,

06:53you have my blessing to go forward.

06:55That's all we need.

06:57What else do we need?

06:58I started Ishara in 2019.

07:01Ishara is, very simply put,

07:04it's an international platform for artists from South Asia.

07:09It's allowing people, artists who have, I feel,

07:15and my belief in this is very deep,

07:19is that the artists from South Asia are world-class.

07:24They are on par with anybody

07:27who's showing anywhere in the world.

07:30They just don't have the opportunities

07:34that the others have.

07:36And if we can provide,

07:40even if it's a small platform,

07:42but actually I think the team led by Sabih

07:46has done an extraordinary job,

07:48because, you know, during COVID,

07:52he and I sat down and we showcased

07:55the shows that we had on

07:57to almost every leading museum in the world.

08:02We did walkthroughs.

08:05We got hold of the people.

08:07You know, I've made a few connects in my life.

08:09We got through to them and we said,

08:11can we present these artists to your supporters,

08:17who are the people who need to see them?

08:20Because that's what makes it.

08:22There's going to come a time

08:24when our artists are going to stand

08:27on their own two feet

08:29and are going to be acknowledged.

08:32I mean, Damien Hirst is a great artist.

08:35I love him to bits,

08:37but there are many Damien Hirsts in South Asia.

08:42They're just waiting to be there

08:44and have the kind of publicity

08:46that is required to become Damien Hirst.

08:50Not taking away anything from the fact

08:53that he's a super artist.

08:55I mean, he's breathtaking.

08:57I want to go and get,

08:59become an alternative to Dubai Mall.

09:02That's my goal, end goal.

09:04So that people have families,

09:07so they'd say on a weekend,

09:09they're going to see the beautiful fishes in Dubai Mall,

09:12but they're also going to see the art at Ishara.

09:15You know, both are free.

09:17We want to target schools.

09:19We want to target communities.

09:21I want people, that's my only regret,

09:23that not enough people are coming.

09:25I wish we could come,

09:27and if you can, if Gulf News, for example,

09:30can take up our cause and say,

09:33please come.

09:35We will be there to service and to serve.

09:39That's my only, my only,

09:41if there's a feeling of sadness,

09:43only that I'm not being able to get

09:45as many people to come as I would like.

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