What binds five artists together? For Anupama Rajiv, Asha Nair, Prasanth K.P., Aswathy Raveendran and Mayera Suman, it is a shared passion for nature, life and painting. They named their collective the House of Bhaitak. When asked why a Hindi word for a Kochi-based group, Anupama described the feeling it evokes—a relaxed, informal setting where creative passion can breathe. “We thought it would be cool to have the word in our name,” she says. “You are sitting with your friends in a carefree setting, discussing, painting and exchanging ideas. Think of it—it’s so cool.”
HoB has arrived in Hyderabad with five solo exhibitions at the State Gallery of Art, running from March 25 to 29. The titles offer a glimpse into each artist’s thinking: ‘Lives Entwined’ (Anupama), ‘The Fly’ (Mayera), ‘Footprints’ (Asha), ‘Vembanad’ (Prasanth) and ‘Mist and Memory’ (Aswathy).
Anupama explores bonds—among humans, between humans and nature, and within nature. Her subjects are mostly women, portrayed in their raw feminine energy. Women at the Pool shows a group relaxing poolside, one bathing, projecting an intimacy that needs no explanation. The Bark draws you in differently: black ants, ladybugs and moss coexisting on tree bark so harmoniously that calm settles over you just looking at it. Anupama declines to explain her themes. “I don’t premeditate my art,” she says. “I just let it come alive and stop when I feel it’s good.” Her journey reflects the same instinct—she tried pottery and ceramics before settling with the brush.
Mayera’s paintings are deliberately colourful, built on contrast. Her canvases are populated with animals—bulls, chimps, dogs, lion cubs, horses, tigers—each accompanied by bees and flies in flight. The animals respond with cheerfulness, curiosity or nonchalance. The theme, Mayera says, is our tendency to notice small things in life. Whether that is a positive or negative trait, she doesn’t know.
Prasanth’s acrylic works draw from the Vembanad lake—India’s longest, spreading across Alappuzha, Kottayam and Ernakulam. “I chose this theme because I live next to it and carry a lot of childhood memories of it,” he explains. The Green Paddy Field and The Fishing bring the lake’s world to life—the Dheevara fishermen, the Pulaya women catching fish with bare hands, grey-headed swamphens and otters moving through the water.
Asha began her art journey at 18 and brings an intense sensibility to her work. For ‘Footprints’, she turned to kathakali and theyyam—not to celebrate them, but to negotiate their inner life through paint. Chamayam depicts a makeup artist preparing a performer for a show lasting over 12 hours. “The artists would be well-known, but the makeup artists slog their lives to ensure the performance is perfect,” she says. Sacred Grove portrays a mystic assembly of Nagadevathas forming a temple. These groves preserve local ecology—their trees cannot be felled. “Unfortunately, real estate interests are knocking them off,” she adds.
Aswathy immerses herself wholly in nature. The Fallen Tree depicts the micro-habitat a tree’s body creates around itself—trunk swallowed by green growth, drenched in rain, alive with hundreds of worms. The Sacred introduces a mystic Ganesha idol from Nepal. “I was fascinated by the very way the idol looked, so I wanted to bring him alive through my art,” she explains.
The five found each other at the Prussian Blu Art Hub of Suresh T.R. in Ernakulam. “We share the same passion for the gifts of life and nature,” says Anupama. “I think that’s why we get along so happily.”