A new body of work by one of India’s noteworthy artists of her generation Vasudha Thozhur, on view at New Delhi-based Latitude 28, comprises largely digital prints and videos. It comes across as an intense examination of the intrinsic nature of ‘celebration’ within the context of our country’s socio-cultural and political milieu.
According to director of the gallery Bhavna Kakar, the artist is a witness to the elaborate preparations and major festivities characteristic to our present day celebration culture. The venue nearby the artist’s place is abuzz with the construction of temporary sets, aglitter with the arc lights & fireworks - resounding with music at somewhat potentially high decibel levels.”
Quite identical is the situation at many other party plots that proliferate in her neighborhood, owing to the lucrative business that they have become. It’s against this curious backdrop Thozhur looks to raise an array of pertinent query – Is this really ‘celebration’? Do the participants know what they are actually celebrating? What is it they experience when celebrating, and how does it really enhance their lives - if at all, it does? Or is it just a safety valve or simply a smoke-screen, often provided by the powers, which tend to obscure the poverty – emotional, cultural and material, - that should be urgently addressed?”
According to the artist herself, the ‘Party Plot’ is a new kind of genre in terms of public spaces, which host weddings, parties and functions in the state of Gujarat. She lives right next to one, with many other in the vicinity, all representing a lucrative enterprise - agricultural land grappling with the encroaching urban development to produce temporary financial benefits before being absorbed into the unsettling frenzy of residential construction avenues. The temporary ‘sets’ erected are getting more elaborate and more spectacular as the time passes by, creating yet another architectural genre.”
This irony of life is what ‘The Anatomy of Celebration or The Party Plot’ tries to bring out…
According to director of the gallery Bhavna Kakar, the artist is a witness to the elaborate preparations and major festivities characteristic to our present day celebration culture. The venue nearby the artist’s place is abuzz with the construction of temporary sets, aglitter with the arc lights & fireworks - resounding with music at somewhat potentially high decibel levels.”
Quite identical is the situation at many other party plots that proliferate in her neighborhood, owing to the lucrative business that they have become. It’s against this curious backdrop Thozhur looks to raise an array of pertinent query – Is this really ‘celebration’? Do the participants know what they are actually celebrating? What is it they experience when celebrating, and how does it really enhance their lives - if at all, it does? Or is it just a safety valve or simply a smoke-screen, often provided by the powers, which tend to obscure the poverty – emotional, cultural and material, - that should be urgently addressed?”
According to the artist herself, the ‘Party Plot’ is a new kind of genre in terms of public spaces, which host weddings, parties and functions in the state of Gujarat. She lives right next to one, with many other in the vicinity, all representing a lucrative enterprise - agricultural land grappling with the encroaching urban development to produce temporary financial benefits before being absorbed into the unsettling frenzy of residential construction avenues. The temporary ‘sets’ erected are getting more elaborate and more spectacular as the time passes by, creating yet another architectural genre.”
This irony of life is what ‘The Anatomy of Celebration or The Party Plot’ tries to bring out…
No comments:
Post a Comment