My Kolkata: With River of Faith, Jayasri Burman goes back to the roots of her inspiration

December 15, 2021
For millennia now, the Ganges has been revered and disregarded in equal measure, much like women themselves. Yet somehow, she still flows as she nurtures and ensconces generations in the subcontinent, with every bend she takes. More recently, she has also put up with the ineptitude of the human race as she gave refuge to abandoned, nameless casualties of the pandemic. This and more have been a source of insatiable inspiration and curiosity for artist Jayasri Burman since her childhood, which has now culminated into a show of enormous scale called River of Faith. As I sit down with her at Bikaner House on the eve of the opening of her show in Delhi, her eyes light up as she tells me more about what she calls her magnum opus. At 61, Burman is still excited, still inspired.