The second section of Anita Ahuja’s three-part series, At War With The Obvious, will promote recycling. The artist spoke to Iknoor Kaur about using plastic bags to make canvases
For several years Anita Ahuja worked in slums with rag pickers. She collected industrial waste — tyre tubes, plastic bags, textile scrap, Tetra-pak paper — turned them into fashion accessories and exported them. “I found a certain beauty in the slum while working with rag pickers. The same tyre tube and plastic bag are waste when in the slum but if we wash it up and turn it into something useful, it goes to a fashion week. The same material which fills up the landfills is being donned by models in Paris. This contrast of people, value systems and society excites me,” says the artist who was so inspired by the irony of this situation that she made a three-part exhibition on it called At War With The Obvious. The second edition of the show will be unveiled on April 9 at the India International Centre.
Anita feels that the name of the show represents day-to-day life. “We always see waste around us and there is nothing people do about it. I feel that if people start recycling or even start accepting recycled products as a way of life it will reduce the waste reaching landfills,” she shares.
According to Anita, the materials used in her artworks are unique. She elaborates, “Some artworks are made from plastic bags. I collect plastic bags, wash them, sterilise them and then I have a heat and pressure machine with which I layer around 50 plastic bags together to make a canvas. Then I create my artwork on that. There are three or four pieces I’ve made on plastic. I’ve also used labels from jeans and pants for a few of my works. We collect labels which are thrown by brands because they are defected.”
One of her works is titled Urban God. She explains, “I’ve created artwork from labels and created pictures of some of our gods because today even God has become a brand. Our ancestors used to worship under the stars but now people worship in temples, even temples are differentiated from another based on the amount of money you have. So I’ve cut the labels in small pieces and created a mosaic.” Another work of Anita is a portrait of a woman of today. “It is titled Women In Fashion. We are so brand conscious today that we have started looking strange. So I’ve portrayed a woman in fashion who, instead of communities, artists and groups, follows brands blindly. So it’s a portrait of a woman of today wearing all the brands,” she informs.
Anita describes herself as a caveman. “A lot of people ask me why don’t I design with organic stuff but I live in Delhi and this city is all about waste. So like caveman made paintings from whatever was available to him, I’m an artist who works with materials I see everyday. I’m no different than a caveman,” she says.
Since Anita is also an activist, her work has a lot of political connotations. “For 20 years I’ve been in the development sector where I work on grassroot projects which are naturally attached to politics. For example, we have a school and we keep getting threats from khap panchayats that Hindus and Muslims or boys and girls should not study together. I’m so used to dealing with this stuff that my themes are related to politics. In fact, the artworks document a political process. I’ve made a mosaic which shows a Nehru cap, so I just show politics through that. It’s like a stand I take towards a better India. Also I show the politics of recycling,” she adds.
After this show, Anita will take the third part of this series to the Nehru Centre in london. “The show will be during the Environment Week in June. I will also be carrying an installation for that,” she ends.