This artwork is part of the "Varnamala" series by Nikheel Aphale, who considers the Devanagari script to be his muse. Varnamala means "alphabet". Devanagari is an ancient Indian script in which Sanskrit, Hindi, Nepali, Marathi and some other languages are written. Nikheel draws parallels between the constitution of letters and human beings, through the lens of diversity, co-existence and togetherness. His artworks, inspired by and rooted in the beautiful Devanagari script, celebrate the ideals of unity, diversity, humanity and oneness, using letters as a metaphor. For instance, the Devanagari script allows one to write exactly how a word is spoken, reflecting honesty and purity of expression - values much appreciated in human beings. There is also no concept of upper case and lower case letters in the script. All letters are at the same level - no hierarchy, no discrimination in terms of position - perhaps an ideal to strive towards in human society too?
"Voice of Equality" highlights the fact that there are no silent letters in the Devanagari script. Each letter has a unique and distinguished sound, which can be heard irrespective of the letter's size, look, feel and tone. Much like this, all humans should also have an equal voice, irrespective of their gender, caste, religion, financial status etc.
