Four artists comment on invention of new identities by modern people in their huge installations. Karan Bhardwaj decodes the ideas presented on canvas
A distant look at a huge form gives an impression that it’s some archeological discovery or a carcass of a huge animal, probably a dinosaur. But a closer look reveals that it is an installation by artist Adip Dutta, displayed at Shrine Empire Gallery as part of the exhibition Invented Identities. It is a hair clip placed upside down. The installation hints how the everyday object is used by women to “project” an impressive look. “We wear branded clothes or luxurious cosmetics just to sport a different image which doesn’t exist otherwise,” says Paroma Maiti, curator of the exhibition.
There are 12 sets of artworks by four artists, including two international ones, all depicting the ideas of “identities”. “The exhibition speaks about the invention of identity. There is a constant desire to fabricate a fake image in keeping with social moulds and demands. There is a particular reference to social networking websites here. People post images on Facebook just to fabricate an image which doesn’t represent their real self,” says the curator adding that “the other element that we have tried to bring is that how memory and imagination play role in this projection. How at certain point in time, memory and imagination collate and we try to erase or add to our memories imaginatively to stitch a new picture.” Adip Dutta’s another huge painting is covering the full wall. The barbed wires are cutting through the wall diving it into two halves. “It’s an identity stretch, talking about the national identities. How we create a new person to be projected as a nationalist. It explores, in tongue-in-cheek fashion, how real our idea of national identity is. like if I am a woman in India, I would think to show myself in a certain light. Paula Sengupta’s The Monkey & the Dog shares fables narrated to her by two women refugees from Tibet. The story is about two Chinese men who arrive at a village with a dog and a monkey. While villagers enjoy with the animals, the invaders take over the fields. The same story has been passed from generations after generations with modifications. The prints are put on Tibetan prayer wheels.”
Artist Anoli Perera has put up her own personal memories with prints on glasses, chairs and tables. These prints show her and her husband posing at different stages of life. She has given special effects, like sepia, to add intensity to her works. Another impressive installation shows a galaxy of 69 bamboo fans put together on a wall.
“Each has an image of clown as seen in pack of playing cards. These bamboo fans are largely viewed as feminine objects. But she has added man’s faces on them as a gesture that she is there to entertain them (men),” the curator explains.
Maiti took more than a year to stitch everything together and finds the theme relevant to our times. “People are constantly trying to be someone else. Just to be different, they are conforming to certain things,” she says.