FOR over four decades, Purnima Sampat taught art, mentored practitioners and showcased her students' work, beginning at one of South Mumbai's best-known schools. On Sunday, the gaze finally turns towards her.
Sampat's first solo exhibition, Held in the Trace, gathers paintings and mixed-media works made with botanical eco-prints, pigment, rust, gauze and thread. Leaves and flowers are pressed, heated or boiled against paper, surrendering colour and form before being removed; stitches then join surfaces while leaving the repair visible.
"I rarely begin with a clear image of what a work will become," she says. "I begin with what is there."
Internationally recognised chest physician Dr Zarir Udwadia will open the Kala Ghoda show, a fitting role for the long-time family friend whom Sampat regards as part of her support system.
