Saturday, June 16, 2012

'Looking Back, Looking Forward' - II

'Looking Back, Looking Forward' is the title of a new group exhibition at Mumbai- based Sakshi Art Gallery. It features works by Valay Shende, Rekha Rodwittiya, Chintan Upadhyay, Riyas Komu, Nandini Valli Muthiah, Sunil Gawde and Zarina Hashmi.

Like a live journal of her personal life and events, Zarina Hashmi’s work deals with a multitude of themes like displacement, travel, memory and the home, which all echo through her perpetual experience and larger identity of a Diaspora, bringing to the fore the idea of dislocation.

Her multi-faceted practice embraces and amalgamates architecture, sculpture, woodcuts etc; tactile in the diverse materials used, minimal in its expression, and packed with meaning. Her preferred media are wood that she carves, (the wooden printing blocks), and paper that she manipulates with dexterity (including papier mâché forms).

Born in 1976, Nandini Valli was raised in Chennai, India where she continues to live. She completed several degrees before entering the field of photography. After an 18 month apprenticeship with a leading commercial photographer in Chennai, Nandini decided to pursue a B.A Honours in Photography from the Arts Institute at Bournemouth, UK (now known as the Arts University College Bournemouth).

This is where she realized she was more suited to producing art photography as opposed to commercial photography. Her works are influenced by photographers as diverse as Gregory Crewdson, Tina Barney, Jonathan Torgovnik, Raja Deen Dayal, Bourne&Shepard, to name a few. Nandini has been showing her work publicly since 2007

On the other hand, a recurring motif in Rekha Rodwittiya ‘s bold-hued paintings is the female figure that represents shades of feminine emotions, concerns and persona sans objectifying them. Her female protagonists are often elevated to iconic proportions. They can simultaneously occupy multiple avatars.  In very clear form, the works explain the artist’s viewpoint that female empowerment and its attendant baggage is rather a complex issue.  A staunch feminist, she believes that in spite of the gender inequality, a multitude of voices still express the desire to dispel the stereotype of gender bias, and look to accommodate the complex changes we know to be real.

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