A T E M P T ;
2019
is a collaborative admittance to bring concerns related to mental health to light through their corporeal superscription thereby probing the discourses of psychology/psychiatry/therapy/medication. It is an installation that comprises of a pseudo archive of suicide/death notes. By blurring the lines between reality and fiction the work tries to respond to the often skewed and dry statistical postulations about mental health, through a complex and varied material manifestation.
TALES OF 25
2020-21
The Zine (part of 25 x 25 IFA grant) explores the intersectinon of internet and sexuality by bringing together different micro tales narrating the impact of the internet on people’s sexual and erotic lives. The project developed over a span of 3 months, in collaboration with its contributors and their filtered responses that encapsulates the theme in about 25 words juxtaposed with manipulated visuals. The zine attempts to materialize the intangible aspects that float in cyberspace through the exploration.
B O D Y M E A N T
2020
Dimensions: Variable
Digital Gifs/Clips
B̶O̶D̶Y̶M̶E̶A̶N̶T̶ emerged in a paradoxical confinement of shared bodily experiences, inexperiences and anticipation in the most bizarre bombarded times (PANDEMIC) of pleasure, urges, dysfunction, boredom, frustrations, anxieties, comforts, paranoia, FOMO, agony, relief etc. Not just cognizing the outbreak of ignorance but also amplifying the questioning sensorial undertones.
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B H A A R
2018
It is an effort to engage with the feeling of ghostly heaviness that I have often encountered around areas/sites in Kashmere gate (specially while coming from the metro station to the campus). The realization became even stronger after few walks in the area. I engaged and documented responses of people (around 17 of them) who were involved in different activities around the area which gave me the sense of that heaviness: the residents, the rickshaw pullers, hawkers, vagabonds, mechanics, laborers, domestic helpers etc. The series consists digitally manipulated images with bluish-greenish algae like tints and tones associated with the heaviness (layers and layers of history, monotony, architectural decay etc.) I was trying to work with. The text represents the dominant concerns/narratives/legends which lingers or influences the people found around that particular area/site.
CHHINNAMASTIKA
Photo Performance/ Digital Montage
2020
A contemporary reincarnation of mythical goddess of contradictions & paradoxes that responds to various aspects of the body; self-sacrifice, transformation, the urge to destroy & realisation. ‘Being’ that rejects societal stereotypes, embraces rebellious freedom & is yet capable of controlling desires. Worshipped for demonstrating elements of terror and eroticism, this headless avatar believes in deviations, detachment and dissociation of sorts. It questions if consciousness can be freed from the various limitations of the body and of the mind ?
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R U S H
Video Performance
2019
Within a structure of chaos, R U S H strives to reflect upon certain aspects working on the body in public spaces i.e. a take on body as a site inscribed by hundred judgmental gazes which sometimes constantly bothers the existing being. And when these aspects are internally processed, one often develops a third person consciousness; that often mimics. A state when someone also ends up with disconnection of sorts: with surroundings, others and with one own self.
माप-दंड
2018
The body of work was an outcome of realisation how devices/equipments that register the changes (physical and chemical) experienced by body become a means of identification (both personally and externally), stigmatization, advertisement etc. The changes which are mostly measurable are stored in the form of digital or analog memory. Their very potential of resulting in self surveillance that governs our lives every single day. The work also questions the reliability of both digital and body memory. The title MAAP DAND came out of the idea how we in a way punish our bodies though these devices, equipment, that we almost use in our daily lives. The work was produced in a form of table calender, since time was an important aspect in relation to changes happening to the body.
M A A P D A N D
A L T E R
Mixed Media Drawings
2019-20
It is a response to the sentiment; how bodies exist in comparison. How bodies are tend to fall for an unsatisfying thought of lacking. A wish/want boosting the desire to attain something better according to the prevailing norms. It is a comment on voluntary act of transformation of sorts that the body opts for, with the aid of medical advancements/practices of modern times. It tries to question whether this change is a consequence of exposure and awareness of different kinds of bodies around and their features or just simply to do away with the 'average' label.
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अVOID
Digital Video
2018
An attempt to make viewers realize/aware about the void that their bodies are constantly trying to fill through different means: by falling in a rut of their humdrum activities, networking, addictions, relationships etc. Simultaneously encouraging them to embrace that void instead of avoiding it. This work is an visual extension of a group performance done in 2014 that I was a part of. The subtitles are taken from its voice over that left the resonation.
ROOM NO - 201
Photo Performance/ Digital Montage
2018
Experiencing nakedness in solitude indeed sounds like an act of privilege but how many can actually grab upon an opportunity like that? In a world that invades privacy, what happens to a body when it becomes a spectacle and spectator simultaneously. If given a chance, would people discard and not even consider it an opportunity? An encounter with self with all layers of labels and brands off.
U N L E A S H
Community project
2019
In collaboration with department of Art Culture and Language (Delhi Government), U N L E A S H was an outcome of an artist camp organised in central park (Connaught Place). The aim was to let catharsis overshadow the sentiments of the public. Where people from all the age group could release the artist in them, simultaneously their bottled up thoughts/emotions on a blank surface.
N E F E L I B A T A
Short Film
2019
he country witnessing a critical phase; institutions, histories and culture are being distorted, hate manufactured, and then cynically deployed for political mobilisation, and ideological domination.
N e f e l i b a t a tries to reflect the bizarreness of the situation/circumstances through distorted narratives. It emerged as a collaborative response (under Artist Unite 2019) to many concerns of a democracy and against hate
कार्य प्रगति पर है
KARYE PRAGATI PAR HAI
(WORK IN PROGRESS)
2018
Observing anatomical features of half-made statutes & knowing about the whole procedure from the artisans who make the ‘protimas’ or clay idols before the Durga Puja. These men who migrate around in the month of August are highly skilled, in-demand artisans doing the intense, laborious work of creating the protima or Durga clay idols, a prized and precious activity from a slow spring to frenzied autumn.
SECONDS OF YOU
2018
This project proposed to engage with public through the social networking mediums (Instagram & whats app primarily). It's an attempt to explore and reflect upon the interest, skills/talents, conditioning, taste, liking, disliking, mundane lives, inspiration of people and simultaneously knowing about them. The project encompasses a wide range of issues related to identity, gender, sexuality, privacy, authenticity, popularity, surveillance, class, pros and cons of the digital age. It is an collaborative effort which involves people engaged in the fields of art, dance, drama, music, sports, literature etc. One of the major intention of this project was to make people take out sometime from their lives to do something they don’t usually include in their everyday routine or may be to reflect upon the activities which comprises their everyday i.e. basically an attempt to take some seconds from their lives and giving back to them. The project involved around 60 participants approx within a duration of about two months. The contributions were uploaded regularly and were later compiled into a video (there was no direct exchange of dialogues between the contributor/collaborators or the source that circulated the call/prompt). The outcome of the project was indeed surprising when it was realized: what kind of setup, content etc. people choose, how invasive or unreliable such kind of collaboration be etc.?