What stays with us long after a moment has passed? A childhood memory, a familiar landscape, a pattern glimpsed in nature, or a story passed down through generations? These questions are at the heart of What Remains Tender, a two-person exhibition by artists Samim Alam Beg and Vivek VC at Vida Heydari Contemporary in Koregaon Park. Bringing together ceramics, photography, drawing, print transfer and mixed-media works, the exhibition explores the ways in which memories remain, evolve and continue to shape the present.
(Photo Jignesh Mistry)
“What remains in memory often reveals itself in unexpected ways, resurfacing through images, sensations and details that stay with us long after the original moment has passed,” says Beg, whose works draw character from years of observing spider webs, dragonfly wings, leaf veins and other natural forms.
Sheena Maria Piedade at the exhbition (Photo Jignesh Mistry)
Raju Sutar, Yogesh Ramkrishna, and Charudatt Pande (Photo Jignesh Mistry)
Alongside Beg, Vivek’s works revisit a childhood fire remembered by his grandmother, exploring how memories endure even as time passes.For Kochi-based Beg, inspiration comes from the details many people overlook. Working with ceramics, bronze and photography, he translates observations from the natural world into sculptures and images that sit somewhere between the familiar and abstract. While Beg’s practice emerges from observation, Vivek’s work is rooted in a family memory. The artist’s body of work centres on a fire that destroyed his grandmother’s childhood home decades ago. The memory remains vivid and continues to shape his work.
Indranil Garai, Aparajita JM, Priyanka Tambe (Photo Jignesh Mistry)
Samim Alam Beg, Vaishali Oak, Simran Rathod (Photo Jignesh Mistry)
One of the exhibition’s largest works is a ceramic installation inspired by microscopic forms found in nature. Fragmented across multiple sections, each piece stands on its own while remaining connected to a larger whole.
(Photo Jignesh Mistry)
