Staying indoors during the pandemic has taken a significant toll on the minds of youngsters, much more than we could have imagined. Like Udita Gowdety puts it, "I don't want to be dark, but COVID has robbed us of our dreams." This 16-year-old wanted to pursue architecture in Singapore, she even picked out the perfect course which was an amalgamation of design and art, but alas. Yet having the resilience of a young spirited soul, this teenager found hope in other initiatives, like co-starting the Hyderabad chapter of Student Art Spaces, the first Asian chapter of the global art community that provides artists a platform to showcase their work. "Though we are on a short hiatus owing to the class XII exams, plans for a digital magazine is underway," shares the eleventh grader optimistically, who is pursuing Math, Physics and Chemistry with her elective as Psychology.
I am an artist and an academic, if I was one without the other I wouldn't be me
Udita Gowdety, Student
Udita's own artwork reflects a maturity that probably comes from her love for books or the sway she holds over Math, it's hard to say. "Math rubs off on me like nothing else does. There is so much that's intrinsically artistic about the history of Math and the nature of numbers itself, I go ga-ga over all its patterns. SImilarly, when it comes to art, I like to deconstruct every pattern that could only be described as scientific," explains the student of Delhi Public School, Hyderabad. But above all, Udita sees herself as a storyteller, whether with art, numbers, spoken word poetry or her singing skills — there is so much more to Udita than meets the eye. Consider these lines from Blue Shoulders that she wrote and sang. 'Now my blue shoulders/ are wasted/ Carrying a weight of/ my own design'. Explaining these heart-rendering lines, the teen says, "It is all about living by ourselves in this pandemic, a lot of us feel the burden we have placed on ourselves, even though we are safe at home," she adds, "Writing is my main passion, it's the way I connect with people."
The Hyderabadi teen says that the City of Nizams, especially the BS Maqta Art District whose every wall is painted with a story, inspired her tremendously. "How Hyderabad has shaped me, how will the city's artscape look vis-à-vis SAS Hyderabad — these are the questions that keep me going," she says.
Being a voracious reader, these are Udita's milestone books:
- Paper Towns: John Green masterfully deconstructs the manic pixie trope
- Big Magic: Elizabeth Gilbert's tells you how to lead a creative life
For more on her, check out instagram.com/uditagowdety
