JOIN USA chance encounter with John Scanlan’s book titled On Garbage gave curator Bhavna Kakar a gem of an idea that was to take shape as ‘Reclaim/Recite/Recycle’, an exhibition that is surely going to be remembered for a long time in Delhi’s art circles, and for mostly good reasons.
In an expansive exhibition of more than 30 works in various media like videos, digital prints, watercolours, drawings, photographs and paintings, that recently concluded at Travancore Art Gallery in New Delhi, recycling took on a new meaning, even for those who are familiar with its use in art.
The works that have emanated from the creativity of over 15 artists, including some familiar names like Justin Ponmany, Chittrovanu Majumdar, TV Santhosh, Tushar Joag, Atul Bhalla, Manjunath Kamath and Ravi Agarwal, propagate that recycling can be applied to not only material things but also cultural and spiritual values, human memories, emotions, existence and even sexuality.
“The book set me thinking,” says Bhavna Kakar, “there’s not only kitchen garbage, but garbage in music, literature, art…should that not be recycled as well? Recycling is the first step for reordering or using past material for a new future. I asked the artists to interpret recycling in whichever form they wanted to.”
Take Atul Bhalla’s photograph titled ‘Dhaula Kuan’ for instance. A composition of a series of 40 shots that he took at Dhaula Kuan is an attempt to highlight water woes of Delhi. Says the artist: “The photograph is ironical to the name of the place which should supposedly be abundant with water, but isn’t so. Through these photos, I want to throw open many questions and challenges — If this is Dhaula Kuan, then where is the water body? Water is recycled and used again and again but what kind of water are these people filling?”
Another series of photographs by Ravi Agarwal titled ‘Passage Rites’ are based on the concept of rebirth. He says: “Recycling implies a transformation at the ‘end-of-life’ whether of objects or of living beings. However, there may be no beginning and no end of life. As I pass from this world to another, through cremation rites, these become symbols of my ongoing journey. The cremation ghat is the place I rediscover myself.”
If Atul Bhalla and Ravi Agarawal choose photography for conveying their message, then artists like Bhagyanath C, Rajesh Ram, Rajan Krishnan and TV Santhosh opt to paint. While each work has symbolic references to the show title, the closest that comes to it is Rajan Krishnan’s painting titled ‘Reconnection’, generated from the process of recycling of memories. Explains the artist: “Every moment, one is engaged in a process of recycling memory in order to connect and identify with the world around. The loss of memories is equal to the loss of the self. Hence, the ability to recollect becomes critical, both for the individual, and for a society.”
However, it is the genius shown in the installations that really set the show apart, once again confirming that installations are indeed new-age art. Prajjwal Choudhury’s work titled, ‘Everything has been done before, like to keep going back and begin all over again’, is a large concrete mixer with self-designed matchboxes moving on a conveyor belt. He says: “There are 200 match boxes placed inside the mixer which fall on a moving steel plate. All the match boxes will be accumulated together and once the mixer is empty, they will put back into the mixer by a vacuum process so the process of recycling begins.”
Just as Prajjwal uses hundreds and hundreds of matchboxes, Sharmila Samant uses innumerable Coke and Diet Coke bottle caps for her installation that is draped on a rod like a saree. Through her work, the artist interrogates the effects of globalisation on the cultural economy of India. The saree and Coca-Cola, both transcend boundaries geographically as well as culturally within India. Says the artist: “By using the different coloured Coca-Cola crowns I could create the various aspects of the saree like pallu, border and motifs. The saree took me four months; the process was performative, from collecting crowns from bars around where I lived in Amsterdam to sorting, washing and then drying them.”
Moving on to Prajakta Potnis’ installation of a dustbin with sediments of mustard seeds in a fungus-like formation, the work clearly exposes the contemporary urban, physical and psychological landscape where almost everything that exists is oozing decay and death but paradoxically suggesting a new revival rather than permanent disappearance.
Digital prints also form a big part of the show. Chitra Ganesh explores recycling through the medium of digital printing. She pairs text with images to uncover the social and historical exploitation of Indian female sexuality. In her work titled ‘Under the Bed’ (from Tales of Amnesia), the semi-naked, saree-draped Indian female torso is fetishized by the onlookers. The dismembered writhing along with the innovative speech of the traditional Amar Chitra Katha figures that the artist uses is certainly an effective way of recycling historically established and reinforced beliefs.
Artist Tushar Joag’s work titled ‘Crawford Market’ is another noteworthy digital print inspired from Crawford Market of South Mumbai. Says the artist: “The Crawford Market which is also a heritage site is on the anvil for reconstruction. The redevelopment of the market has been mired in controversy in the recent past. I have used the architectural elements from the market to create a recycling machine that produces packaged real estate.”
And then there is music. Chittrovanu Majumdar creates his installation titled ‘Ice Cream Factory Chill Tubes And A Love Song’…where refrigeration coils of a small-scale ice cream factory transport sound to end in a bell of brass instruments as an acoustical coupling. The love song, a popular song from an Indian film Love in Tokyo, plays from the installation. This song like many others is played during religious processions by local bands on the streets of Kolkata. Interpreted with a very local approach — with dissonances, broken structures and changes in pitch, timber and dynamic levels, it becomes another genre of music, totally recycled for a new audience.
So, just in case you thought recycling was only about paper, time to do an art check!