Launched in 2014, PhotoSparks is a weekly feature from YourStory, with photographs that celebrate the spirit of creativity and innovation. In the earlier 880 posts, we featured an art festival, cartoon gallery. world music festival, telecom expo, millets fair, climate change expo, wildlife conference, startup festival, Diwali rangoli, and jazz festival.
In this photo essay series, three exhibitors from the India Art Festival (IAF) in Hyderabad share insights on the learnings from their artistic journeys, and what success means to them. The next edition of IAF will be in New Delhi in November (see our coverage of earlier IAF editions here).
Saurabh Dingare, a graduate of Abhinav Art College and MIT in Pune, has been observing traditional festivals and celebrations at home right from his childhood days. “My mother, grandmother, and sister always used to wear traditional attire,” he tells YourStory.
As he started his artistic journey, he decided to incorporate their styles in his work. “My ultimate goal is that when people look at my artworks, they should relate to their own past and feel nostalgic about these incidents and moments,” he says.
“I like to say my work begins in books and ends in the gut. My process is a blend of rigor and intuition—anchored in research, yet driven by instinct,” Mumbai-based artist Praveena Parepalli explains.
When she works on a river as the theme of her artwork, she first spends weeks immersed in its geography, mythology, wildlife, and history. “But once I sit with the surface—paper, wood, canvas—something else takes over,” she describes.
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“The hand knows what the mind has not yet named. I use charcoal in ways it was not taught—burnt, broken, blended,” Parepalli says.
She often layers the charcoal with gold or soft pastel, letting texture speak where words fail. “Each piece is an excavation, and I don’t always know what I will find until I am done,” she adds.
“My style blends vibrant colour combinations, figurative forms, and storytelling. I incorporate unique textures in my paintings,” says Rajendra Ray, co-founder of Art and Designer Studio in Hyderabad.
He aims to create a distinct visual language that sets his work apart from others. “I make each piece personal, expressive, and instantly recognisable,” he adds.
The three artists also share what success means to them in terms of mastery of the subject, inner exploration, awards, and commercial gain.
Recognition has its place, according to Parepalli. “Awards and sales act like sudden beams of light—they reveal you to others. But what illuminates you from within is something more intimate,” she explains.
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“For me, true success lies in the subtle shifts in perception: the way I now see a tree, trace a river, or understand silence. In the last three years, I have found a new rhythm with wildlife and ecology—subjects I never imagined would move me this deeply,” Parepalli says.
This phase has transformed her inner landscape. “That, to me, is success. Still, let us not pretend external validation does not help,” she clarifies.
“Validation opens doors and builds credibility. But it is not the fire—it is just the wick,” she affirms.
Depending on size, medium, and narrative depth, her artworks are priced from Rs 5,000 to Rs 1.3 lakh. “The value lies in more than the surface,” she says.
“The value is the research, the layering, the long hours of composition. You are not just collecting a work – you are stepping into a conversation,” she emphasises.
For Dingare, success is when someone looks at her painting and relates to it. “Success is also seeing someone feel exactly what I felt while creating it,” she says.
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Materialistic success is important as well, she adds. Her art works are priced from Rs 13,000 upward.
“Initially, artists try to find their strengths and make themselves an expert in their category. Awards bring popularity, and commercial success is certainly necessary for survival,” Ray explains. His artworks are priced from Rs 2,000 to Rs 75,000.
“I think success is not a fixed phase for an artist because the expectations of an artist are endless. Inner exploration, awards and commercial success – these are all different stages of success for an artist,” Ray signs off.
Now what have you done today to pause in your busy schedule and harness your creative side for a better world?
(All photographs were taken by Madanmohan Rao on location at India Art Festival in Hyderabad.)
