Prafulla Mohanti was born in Nanpur in the state of Orissa (now Odisha), India, in 1936. He studied in Bombay (now Mumbai) before moving to England in 1960 to pursue a career in architecture and town planning. After working for the Greater London Council (GLC), he decided to devote himself to being an artist and writer.
Painter and author Prafulla Mohanti was born in the village of Nanpur in the state of Orissa (now Odisha), east India, in 1936. His introduction to drawing and painting came from his childhood and Nanpur has been a profound lifelong influence throughout his art and writing. After seeing an advertisement for a course in architecture, he went to study at Bombay (now Mumbai) University in 1955-60. While studying, he would sketch and paint in watercolour. Following his degree, seeking to further his career, he moved to London, England in 1960. As he adjusted to his new life, he found refuge in painting, experimenting with space, forms and colour. Although he worked in several architectural practices, his opportunities were limited and he faced discrimination. His degree was not recognised by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) and he was paid less than English architects doing the same work. He travelled in Europe before taking up an offer to study town planning in Leeds. Spending time at the city's College of Art, Mohanti's painting, deeply rooted in Hindu and village traditions, attracted attention from teachers and fellow students. As he later reflected: 'I came to Leeds to study town planning and in the process became a painter' (Through Brown Eyes, p. 99).
Looking to sell some of his paintings to help pay for his education, Mohanti approached galleries in London, but without success. He instead held an exhibition in Leeds in 1964 which received positive reviews in the Yorkshire Post and Daily Telegraph. This was followed by invitations to exhibit at Wakefield City Art Gallery and the University of Sussex, and purchases of paintings by Wakefield Council and Leeds City Art Gallery. After completing his degree, Mohanti moved back to London, to the East End, where he began working for the Greater London Council (GLC) as a town planner. He continued to paint in the evenings and taught painting, yoga and dance in his spare time. He enjoyed work at the GLC initially, but later found the environment demoralising and decided to leave to devote himself to his art, dividing his time between England and India, continuing to be inspired by his homeland. He has also written books centred on Nanpur and its influence on his life and art, including My Village, My Life (published 1973), and a collection of stories, Indian Village Tales (1975), illustrated with his own drawings.
In London, Mohanti was a founding member of the British-India Forum, a group of artists, writers, teachers, journalists and professionals that met at India House. In 1980, he was asked to join the Festival of India Committee, but was disappointed by what he identified as a refusal to acknowledge the art of contemporary India or the Indian community in Britain. In 1982, he participated in the important exhibition Between Two Cultures at the Barbican Arts Centre, organised by Indian Artists UK. He worked with the BBC to make a film based on My Village, My Life, which aired in March 1982 during the Festival of India. After suffering racial violence, Mohanti moved from the East End to Pimlico to live and work. Literary success and painting have helped him come to terms with his experiences of racial prejudice and cultural apathy in England, and he once wrote: 'I have learned to live alone with myself in a dream world surrounded by violence and racial tension' (Through Brown Eyes, p. 208). His paintings often comprise bright concentric circles filled with colour. As a child, he was taught to draw three circles to represent the Hindu trinity - Brahma, the creator, Vishnu, the preserver, and Mahesh (Shiva), the destroyer. Ritual symbols, the lotus, the bindu, sunsets and sunrises, are central elements of his work, frequently executed in reds, pinks and blues. On showing his paintings to a gallery in Delhi, the director identified them as examples of Tantra art, which Mohanti has recognised as part of his work, naturally manifesting in the forms and colours he employs, rooted in his self-expression and in his village culture. In his Dancing Hands series, he also experimented with relating his paintings to dance, arranging coloured lighting which changed as he moved among the paintings to create an atmosphere of shared contemplation. For Mohanti, painting, writing, poetry, dance and architecture are interrelated. He has held exhibitions in Europe, North America and Japan, but has said he feels at home in India and England. Prafulla Mohanti lives and works in London. In 2020, his work was featured in Ben Uri's online exhibition Midnight's Family: 70 Years of Indian Artists in Britain. His work is represented in UK public collections including Hepworth Wakefield, Leeds Art Gallery, University of Chichester and the British Museum.
Consult items in the Ben Uri archive related to [Prafulla Mohanti]
Publications related to [Prafulla Mohanti] in the Ben Uri Library