Questioning the situation and the self

Talwar Gallery presents at is New York venue a group of rare installation works from 1993 by the late artist, Rummana Hussain, known for extreme sensitivity and finesse.

This is incidentally the first solo gallery exhibition in the US that showcases her works done in the wake of events of December 1992 in Ayodhya, the holy town of Indi.

Rummana Hussain was born in 1952 and passed away in 1999 in Mumbai. Her works have been presented at various prestigious institutions across the world including Tate Modern, London; Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane; Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth; Asia Society, New York; Museum of Contemporary Art, Monterrey, Mexico and Rose Art Museum, Waltham, MA. In 1998 Rummana was Artist in Residence at Art in General, New York.

Among her noteworthy solos are ‘Fortitude from Fragments’, Talwar Gallery, New Delhi (2010); ‘Home/Nation’, Gallery Chemould Mumbai (1996); a traveling show ‘Fragments/Multiples’, among other shows. Her art practice took a dramatic shift, awakening in her an urgent and a persistent questioning of the situation and the self.

The works on view mark the pivotal point, which altered the direction of her work, evolving her language and medium to address burgeoning concerns both public and private. Employing simple everyday materials the works are powerful expressions of the communal dislocation of the time and embark the artist for further impassioned explorations, ensuing at times in poignant revelations of self.

Cracked, split domes and crumbled earth, reminiscent of a fractured edifice; assemblage of shattered terra cotta pots lay scattered and exposed: the female body deconstructed, undone. The works on view are evocative of a shrine where the remnants of broken earthenware laid on mirrors urge a solemn reflection.

A sense of loss permeates the space as fragments appear excavated relics of the past. While these installations were created almost two decades ago, the violence and intolerance they allude to still resonates today, more widespread and forceful.