(PTI) –
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A unique exhibition of paintings on marine life by a leading non-resident Indian woman artist, which capture on canvas the amazing world under the sea, is underway here
The four –day exhibition titled “From the porthole – Marine Millennia,” by Sheila Malhotra was inaugurated here April 19 night by leading NRI industrialist and British Ambassador for Overseas Business Lord Swraj Paul.
Terming the artwork “marvellous,” Lord Paul said art was part of our heritage and it should be preserved and cherished.
Sheila Malhotra, who hails from Shimla, made the paintings when she accompanied
her husband Sutikshan Malhotra, a captain with the Shipping Corporation of India, during his sea-faring days.

“We had only heard about the sea, and there was a fear in my mind about how I would cope with going on a ship. In fact, it turned out I was a wonderful sailor. I did not feel sick and liked the sea,” said the painter who grew up in the hills.

The exhibition, part of her series “The World through a Porthole”, views the marine world at the dawn of the new millennium through a collection of oil and collage works.

Some are a blend with turn-of-the–century editions of newspapers, allowing the works to “encompass time in motion,” Malhotra said.
. Five years on from the thrill of the rising millennium, the aim was to keep alive the idea of “the convergence of, or the setting apart of the two centuries” she added.
It is a fascinating insight into how the world looks from a porthole and how a transition is seen from one millennium to another,” Nehru Centre director Pawan Varma said about the paintings. Lord Paul’s wife Aruna was also present at the inauguration.

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