Categories: Preview

A meeting with the self

Published by
Proma Chakraborty

In Vadehra Art Gallery’s latest exhibition (ME)(MORY), artists show a quasi-dream-like state in their works, shedding their exterior bodies for the visceral and whimsical world of within

Featuring nine artists with subcontinental presences or origins, Vadehra Art Gallery is pleased to announce (ME)(MORY), a women’s group show curated by Dipti Anand 

The exhibition brings together the works of Faiza Butt, Ruby Chishti, Anoli Perera, Bakula Nayak, Apnavi Makanji, Rakhi Peswani, Himali Singh Soin, Biraaj Dodiya, and Shrimanti Saha.

(ME)(MORY) sets a stage for interdisciplinary conversations around the nature of self-building by inviting empathetic and philosophical reflection on constructions of identity or experience. 

In her curatorial essay, Anand writes: “Since the self is as much remembered as it is present, its narrativization requires a sensitive and cross-sectional articulation of the self as ‘no longer’ and ‘not yet’ from where the ‘is’ emerges. In (ME)(MORY), the artists approach the construction of these artworks as they might the construction of themselves, from a quasi-dream-like state, or an ecstasis, or states of overpowering emotion, seemingly shedding their exterior bodies for the visceral and whimsical world of within.”

Faiza Butt’s ‘The Sleepless Constellation 3’

The show presents a significant body of work from each artist, with a notable diversity across media and materials, visual languages, techniques and creative intentions. 

Where Himali Singh Soin’s sensory and algorithmic assessment of the semi-colons used in Virginia Woolf’s novel The Waves is an immersive project exploring our relationships with continuity and macrocosms, Ruby Chishti’s representational sculptures are refurbished personal memories borne of contextual circumstances then extrapolated to larger, shared experiences.

Rakhi Peswani’s fabric panels are an exposition of the inner theatre of creativity and the tediousness of channelling self-expression into skill, which offers a temporal counterpoint to Bakula Nayak and Apnavi Makanji, whose post-inspiration drawings are a figural self-study of the inter-dependent emotional–physical body and erasure of inflated values in anthropocentric human forms respectively.

Meanwhile, Biraaj Dodiya’s series of oil paintings are abstracted landscapes that mirror an unknown world navigated by intuition rather than vision, a sensibility Faiza Butt shares in intermingling narratives across intense global cultures with autobiographical elements in her ceramic and porcelain sculptures. 

While the show is on view at the gallery they are also embracing a new immersive 3D digital technology experience via Matterport on their website, which offers a multi-dimensional mapping of the show.

The exhibition can be viewed at Vadehra Art Gallery from 22 January to 27 February  

 

For more stories that cover the ongoings of Delhi NCR, follow us on:
Proma Chakraborty

Published by
Proma Chakraborty

Recent Posts

Delhi to host all India K-pop contest 2024 grand finale tomorrow

The finalists will compete in two categories—dance and vocals—vying for the title and an opportunity…

November 22, 2024

Delhi: Winter of misery for the homeless in the national capital

With the abrupt fall in temperatures, the destitute are left exposed to the chill without…

November 22, 2024

Maitri Bus Service bridges Delhi-Kathmandu, carrying 17,603 passengers in one year

Among the passengers, 4,782 were Indian citizens, 12,471 were Nepalese nationals and 350 came from…

November 22, 2024

Delhi air pollution: SC to consider on Nov 25 if GRAP-4 curbs can be relaxed

A bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Augustine George Masih expressed displeasure over the…

November 22, 2024

Delhi’s rooftop cafés struggle as air pollution clouds winter charm

With smog choking the capital, iconic open-air spots face dwindling footfall and rising customer concerns

November 22, 2024

Exhibition: The Art of Quilting

The exhibition highlights quilting’s transformation from functional bed coverings to a contemporary art form

November 22, 2024