Angeli Sowani is an artist who has carved out a unique niche for herself and her work as part of the prolific Indian art scenario. Her work orders a reliable following and her paintings are held in private and corporate collections around the globe. As art authority Nigel Cameron puts it, "Her painting language is constantly understated, implying rather than stating. It is this quality of her painting that captures us with its significantly suggestive qualities – very much in the sense that a fine poem delights with its language while at the same time telling its tale. The quality of the art matches the content of the picture, each echoing the other in that mysterious route in very great painting". Angeli has put her name to eight independent exhibitions held in Hong Kong's Rotunda Gallery, Mumbai's Jehangir Art Gallery, London's King's Road Gallery. She has additionally participated in over 20 gathering exhibitions, including The 50th Anniversary of Independence show in Hong Kong, The London Art Show, The Harmony Show, and The Art for the wellbeing of God exhibition in New Delhi's Habitat Center. Conceived in New Delhi, Angeli grew up in India and since 1988 has lived and worked in Kathmandu, Bangkok, Hong Kong, and now London. She started her art career with a degree in visual communication, graphic design and illustration from NID, Ahmedabad.
Angeli Sowani's fascination with war and subsequent love for painting soldiers started in 2001 when she moved to England from India.
One million and more Indian soldiers were transported in troopships to Europe in September 1914 to fight a war that was not theirs. They perhaps did not even recognize what they were in for. Months into the war, the tired and homesick soldiers wrote letters to their loved ones back home, often asking them not to emulate their example. "I have managed to bring together a fair number of postcards and letters which were translated and censored at the time by a literate Indian soldier and a British officer," says Angeli Sowani, guardian of the exhibition titled "Medals and Bullets" that was recently held at the Jehangir Art Gallery in Mumbai. All the portraits and letters have now been made available for viewers on Sowani's website.
"There are endless letters that remained unsent. They were not approved by the British yet the translated version of the same remains in British records. An Indian officer would translate the letters from Urdu or Hindi to English for British records before they were sent," explains Sowani, 58.
Sourcing the letters and postcards from the British Museum and the Imperial War Library in London, she has recreated them for the exhibition while retaining the original text. The letters from the Indian soldiers speak of their numerous experiences in a foreign land. A letter from an Indian surgeon working in Brighton, a city on the south shore of England, reads: "The people here are of a very amiable disposition. They talk pleasantly, treat us kindly, and are pleased to see us. It is impossible to state why they become so awful at reaching India."
Angeli Sowani's fascination with war and subsequent love for painting soldiers started in 2001 when she moved to England from India. "In those days 9/11 had shaken the world. There was such an extensive amount war and terror around us, and still is," says the artist and graphic designer. She delved into the subject and started reading a great deal of books on war. "My first-ever portrait of a soldier was that of the 100th Iraqi soldier who lost his life in the Iraq War in 2006," she includes. After that, she turned her gaze to Indian soldiers and started painting them.
The idea of the exhibition came up a year ago as it marked the centenary of the end of War World I. "The war was a very brutal time and the soldiers lived in pitiful conditions. I thought of putting together letters, postcards, and paintings of Indian soldiers who gave their life for it," she says. Apart from 11 portraits, the collection comprises 20 letters dated between 1914 and 1919.
The one painting that's close to Angeli Sowani's heart depicts Gurkha soldiers, armed with kukhris, charging at their opponents. The painting showcases trench warfare, which was a new battle method during that period. The paintings by Angeli Sowani include portraits of soldiers in Indian outfits with the UK's nation flag in the scenery. Pointing to a poster featuring an image of a lion, Angeli Sowani says: "This is what the British put out when they were looking to recruit soldiers to fight for them."
Speaking about the relationship that Indian soldiers and specialists shared with the British, Angeli Sowani says: "This was one of the very few times that Indians were treated as equals. When a large number of them reached Europe, they considered the To be as sahibs and rulers. They saw the British furrow their own fields and work as hard as them, unlike in India. This came as a huge surprise to numerous Indians."
Angeli Sowani plans to continue painting soldiers and her studies on war. "I'm happy I could bring together stories of unsung heroes of World War I, which would otherwise simply be folklore," she says.
Seniors Today have shared an article- Angeli Sowani on Indian Soldiers of the Great War.
