A handful of expressions

A pair of hands rise up to ring a temple bell. A wrinkled pair of hands belonging to Mother Teresa holds a rosary. Another pair of hands shape a lump of clay into a beautiful pot. And giving a form to these hands on canvases is artist Vishwa Sahni, whose exhibition Digits in the Digital Era is on at the Artist Centre at Kala Ghoda till Sunday.

"When people want to say something, their hands move on their own accord. Hands are, in a way, the mirror to our soul," says the artist, who believes that hands have a language of their own. "And no matter, how much we observe or speak, it is the humble hand that needs to do the deed," he adds. Vishwa cites the instance of the Mother Teresa painting. "If you see the wrinkles on her hands, you can see the dedication and love with which she has worked for the poor and the needy," he explains.

What's interesting about Vishwa's paintings is that he has used the medium of ballpoint pens to create the same. "I have worked with acrylics and oils but when I used ballpoint pens, the result was so real that I realised this technique works the best for me," says the self-taught artist who hails originally from Uttar Pradesh.