India, July 10 -- Can a painting become a destination? Can a canvas transport its viewer to a place untouched by sorrow, where the boundaries between nature, faith and the self dissolve into quiet bliss? For artist Harmandeep Keerti, the answer lies in Begumpura - the mythical 'City Without Sorrow' envisioned by Guru Ravidas in his celebrated hymn 'Begumpura Sehar Ko Naao'. It is this spiritual landscape that forms the heart of Keerti's solo exhibition, Begumpura - Eye of the Sky, opening at Chandigarh's 105 Arts Gallery on July 10 (Friday). On view until July 31, the exhibition invites visitors to embark on two parallel journeys - one inward and the other through nature. Through luminous landscapes and contemplative self-portraits, Keerti explores themes of faith, self-awareness, transformation and the subtle passage of time. What makes the exhibition particularly compelling is the artist's extraordinary commitment to observation. For the past nine years, Keerti has returned to the same landscape at the same time every year, documenting the gradual transformation of grasslands, trees and wheat fields through changing seasons. The exhibition brings together two interconnected series that together reflect Keerti's evolving artistic practice. The first body of work, Begumpura, draws its inspiration from faith and Gurbani, gradually transforming into visual meditations on spiritual awakening. The second, Singh Samurai, begins with the self. Here, the artist paints himself not as an individual but as an everyman. "What began as an attempt to portray the everyday life of a Sikh gradually transformed into a deeply personal spiritual space," says Keerti, who was born and raised in Uttar Pradesh. "My practice is rooted in two parallel journeys - one inward and one outward. Through self-portraits and the observation of nature, I seek to understand both human psychology and the world that surrounds it," he explains. "Nature has been painted a thousand times, but what caught my eye with Harman's works was that he wasn't trying to do something new with the subject. He was trying to paint something true," says curator Mehak Bhan. "There is something more meaningful in collecting a young artist at this stage. It's a different kind of value, that stays with you," she adds. HTC...