Carbon is charcoal, but it is also a diamond. It can be the softest and the hardest in the world. Carbon can be both, the yin and the yang.  Carbon 12, however, is considered the environment pollutant, but again, it completely depends on the direction in which it is channelized.

I didn’t have even a little idea of what I was going to walk into. It was a place where I could feel a sense of inner peace just being close to the paintings. There were so many colours and so much purity.

Twelve artists from around the world visited Diggi Palace, Jaipur to paint their views on Carbon.

The first painter I met was Premila Singh, though, of Indian Origin, she’s now based in South Africa. She got us familiar with the dire situation of the nature today and agreed that things had to be started at an individual level.

“The Earth is our home, and we must preserve it. Did you know that even the Himalayan snowcaps are melting? The water levels are rising?”

She showed us her painting; that was in hues of blue, green and grey. The grey signified the growing pollution, and the rain falling is the carbon crying out.

I then met Grete Marstein, a painter based in Norway. Well, my first question to her was about how strong the ‘heavy metal’ culture in Norway was! Of course, that made her laugh. Sorry guys, I was just curious. Deal with it! (Tehehe)

Grete’s two paintings were connected in just the right way. While her first one told us that we still had hope, and we could save the planet, her second painting showed how the world would be once we made it a better place. That was definitely my personal favourite!

Roya Dilkhosh created a woman who looked very Indian, and very Iranian, too. Have a look for yourself. This woman was integrated with nature. She was the Mother Earth. Mind = Blown.

Dayum, these artists have way too creative brains!

We moved on to see the work of Melanie Challe, the France-based artist’s two paintings were black and white; she used carbon-based Ink only. Her paintings showed the ‘yin and yang’ and a black but sparkly Sun. Interesting. Isn’t it? The perspective was ours to decide.

Melanie is also a photographer who tries to integrate a woman’s body and soul through her work. I was highly impressed with all the multi-talented people around, especially from all around the world.

It gave us a message to spread joy to the world.

JWB met Joan Belmar, the Visual Artist of Chili Origin, who was based in Washington, USA.

Joan’s geometric looking painting contained a lot in its layers. Beneath the psychedelic geometrics, I could see how the grey blots signified a lot more than we could identify at the first glance. The longer I looked, the more interesting his paintings got. Really, I didn’t want to look away.

Artist Claudie Dimbeng’s work used only natural dyes, ivory bark, and marble powder. Everything was taken from the Mother Earth, as she’d put it. Also, through her explosive design, she combined the Indian culture with her own.

South Korean Artist Bosuk Lee, apart from dancing on Oppa Gangnam Style with me, painted this beautiful peacock that had the hidden Jaipur Forts in it.

Mexican Artist Margerita Bache had matched her dress with her painting, yay! Her painting signified how all of us need to clasp our hands together; all the countries need to stand head-to-head to put an end to Global Warming!

The artists have intended to spread awareness about carbon through this two-day exhibition that ends tomorrow on April 30th. Think you might be interested in Carbon 12? Well, you might as well hurry up!