As in previous years, the Department of Fine Arts, SN School of Arts and Communication at the University of Hyderabad, hosted and presented ‘Final Display 2025’ on 17th, 18th & 19th May, 2025. This year, a total of 33 students from Painting, Printmaking and Sculpture disciplines showcased their works that reflected their engagement with diverse materials and media.
The display was held in the premises of the department and was open to the members of the university fraternity and to the general public. The outgoing batch of students curated this exhibition at the end of the fourth semester of the MVA programs, under the guidance and mentorship of the Faculty of the Department of Fine Arts. Nearly two thousand footfalls to the show testify that, over the years, the Annual Display of the Department of Fine Arts at SN School has become a widely anticipated and welcome event on the university campus and on the calendar of the city of Hyderabad.
During this event, the studio spaces, corridors and the open courtyards got transformed into exhibition spaces. The purpose of the exhibition was designed as a retrospective show that cumulatively reflects and reviews the works done by the students during the course of their MVA program. The work on the final display allowed the students to engage directly with the demands, challenges and realities of art curation, spectatorship, display conditions, media management, publicity matters and other factors. In addition to the well-crafted individual artistic statements to validate and support the exhibits, the multi-lingual scheduled walk-throughs helped the audience to experience and interact with the show in more meaningful ways.
Themes like memory, history, identity, ecological grief, injustice, vulnerability and survival strategies dominated the students’ artworks on display. The works were neither decorative objects, nor were they made for entertaining people. They were statements and declarations, born of solitude, dialogue, doubt, dilemma, experimentations and courage. This exhibition offered a space of reflection, confrontation, and often became a mirror, archive. Of memories and experiences, holding the essence of our times. Testaments to diverse modes of expressions, the artworks were developed and created within the nurturing yet critically charged academic environment of S. N. School.
The Department of Fine Arts sincerely conveys gratitude to the university administration and fraternity for all the support, and expresses their indebtedness to the audience, connoisseurs and people from many organizations and institutions who encouraged the students, mentors and the staff with their presence, critique and appreciation.
Contributed by Mr. Tanmay Santra, Assistant Professor of Painting, Department of Fine Arts
More pictures can be viewed at https://photos.app.goo.gl/DyWT8QK1Dc8AaNgZA