Ruchika Wason Singh

Introduction from the Exhibition Catalogue - In the 1990s there was a flourishing programme of visual artists exchanges between Wales and the State of Rajasthan. This is an international aspect of the Artists in Residence Programme organised by the Arts Council of Wales in the 1980s and 90s. These projects were reciprocal, providing opportunities for visual artists to experience a new culture, meet and work along side fellow artists in a different environment and to exhibit internationally. The exchange between Wales and Rajasthan has continued with the connections, exchanges, residencies, exhibitions and collaborations for more than 20 years. Many artists from Wales and Rajasthan, in a broad variety of visual arts disciplines, have visited each others countries over this period. 

Open Books, is an international Book Arts exhibition, created by Mary Husted, an independent curator who has been touring this exhibition since 2012. It now comes to the galleries at the Lalit Kala Akademi inJaipur as part of this tour and as a continuation of the long standing relationship between Wales and India. At each new venue artists from the hosting region and country exhibit alongside the existing show and their work then has the opportunity to travel to future venues as part of the extend tour. The current exhibition also includes artists from Wales, UK, China, Australia, Hong Kong, Canada and now Rajasthan. Future exhibitions are in prospect. At different times the exchange between Wales and Rajasthan has had the important support from Wales Arts International, The Welsh Assembly, The Arts Council of Wales, The British Council, The Lalit Kala Academy, Jawahar Kala Kendra , The Charles Wallace India Trust, INTACH, Rajasthan School o fArt, V6 Group and Cardiff School of Art & Design, Cardiff Metropolitan University. 

Richard Cox & Sue Hunt  (Exhibition co-ordinators) 

Participating Artists - Iwan Bala, G.W. Bot, Brendan Burns, Valerie C. Price, Richard Cox, Caren Florance, Dianne Fogwell, Angela gardner, Noelle Griffiths, Clive H.C. Jenkins, Sue Hunt, Mary Husted, Maggie James, Gukzik Lau, Tom Martin, Philip Nicol, Heather Nixon, Ou Da Wei, Alan Salisbury, Frank Vigneron, Wim de Vos, Robin Wallace-Crabbe, Lois Williams, Sue Williams, V.S.Upadhayay, Harshiv Sharma, Archana Joshi, Vinay Sharma, Suneet Ghidial, Meena Baya, Lalit Sharma, Shahid parvez, Ruchika Wason Singh, Barbara Ballachey, Linda Carreiro, Eric Chan, Pierre Durette, David Garneau, Helen Gerritzen, Jill Ho-You, Charlotte Jones, Jerry Evans, Christain Quesnel, Richard Smolinski, Susan Wood, Ding Yi, Gu Rong, Huang Jinjie, Huang Jun, Li Shun, Le Yong, Wang Dongling, Wang Hailong, Wang Xi, Yang An and Zhang Yu.