Jasleena Singh’s exhibition captures objects which are not only a treasured memory but also props to grow and mature with, says Aseem Bhargava
A bygone time, a place, a wisp or a sliver of a trinket, functional object or a much loved utility item, which always gave one immense pleasure and was a focal part of our lives at one time — do we ever leave the past or more importantly can it leave usIJ
As we grow, change, move on, evolve and take up a new life, lives or ways of being, there are some yesterdays that indeed never do leave us, as more often than not, we cling to them or never let them go. Young Jasleena Singh, not even 30 as yet, is one such painter to whom the past has always mattered and stayed. Her works, collectively titled Yesterday Once More, capture objects which are not only a treasured memory but also something that one will continue to grow and mature with. If one looks critically, there may be some who have no time or patience for what we have left behind and wonder at the fuss being made about it, but doesn’t the appeal of the same — being in a time zone of old buildings, ruins and excavations, artefacts — have us in thrallIJ
Jasleena employs teacups, teapots, typewriters, letter boxes, jugs, radios, mugs, chanting beads and strings — things which may have lost relevance and some which have retained it — to weave together a labyrinth of the past. Furniture, since discarded, which saw better times and patronage, makes one realise that while impermanence is a given, permanence must never be taken for granted. It’s both reflective and peaceful. It seems to move and still has an efficacy even though some have lost out in the passing of time, what we regarded and took for granted once.
There’s a strong and gentle sense of desolation and helplessness, especially when we look at the typewriters and post boxes as leitmotifs, which were cast away for newer, smarter forms of communication.
However, the old-worldly charm and its obvious draw are attractive. It seeks one’s attention and still has the power to fascinate the viewer. We know that many of the objects here are way past their heyday and will never again be as instrumental in playing the roles they did in days of yore. But even then one realises that many a place in the world and in India still utilises many of these things quite effectively, which to the big city viewer are now sheer nostalgia and have lost their appeal. Jasleena’s fine work ensures that the viewer spends time in the exhibition and it is indeed pleasurable to see and identify with objects that slowly grew alien and still evoke the feeling that it is “Yesterday Once More.”