On the first anniversary of last November's Mumbai terror attacks, an exhibition showcases artworks by 13 artists who believe things will never be the same again
On the first anniversary of last November's Mumbai terror attacks, an exhibition showcases artworks by 13 artists who believe things will never be the same again
Everything beautiful need not necessarily inspire art. Walk into a South Mumbai art gallery, and you know what we mean because this is where a bunch of artists from all over India have found inspiration in gruesome death.
|
|
The Attack by Subodh Kerkar |
In the aftermath of last November's terror attacks when a group of terrorists held Mumbai ransom for days on end, curator Jasmine Shah Varma decided to hold an exhibition around the tragedy. "The commonly heard phrase at the time was, nothing will ever be the same again, and I zeroed in on that phrase for the name of my exhibition. I told the artists to interpret it in their own way; it could imply a sense of hope that things would change, a resignation that it wouldn't or a sense of cynicism over failed governance. Some of them looked beyond 26/11 choosing to focus on broader environmental and cultural connotations of the statement," she says.
The exhibition that displays acrylics on canvas, sculptures and videos includes Goa-based artist Subodh Kerkar's disturbing works that focus on the seashore and the terrorists landing into Mumbai in a dinghy. A painting titled The Attack depicts severed heads lying on a blood-smeared seashore, while The Demonic Canoe shows a canoe spilling over with a murky red liquid representing the boat of death.
Bangalore-based artist Ravikumar Kashi's video installation, Six Degrees of Separation, questions the distortion of truth by the media. He downloaded the image of lone surviving terrorist, gun-toting Ajmal Kasab from the Internet, and screened it on TV. He photographed the image on TV, transferred it on to his laptop and screened it again. Each time, the picture became more distorted, and ultimately de-linked from the original picture. "I was in London when the attacks occurred and so, was strangely detached from the event. I realised that the media gave it an unnecessary slant, and citizens never questioned it."
Not everything centres around the attacks, though. South Korean artist Kim Kyongae depicts her homeland, which she visited after five years. Titled Nostalgia, it reflects how things that should never have changed, have, and what should have made way for new, is just the same.
At: Hirji Gallery, first floor, Jehangir Art Gallery, Kala Ghoda, Fort. Till: November 16. Call: 9820146986
