Unusual art for display

Duo Mandira Lamba and Ridhi Bhalla are hosting ‘Moving Matter’, a group show curated by Deeksha Nath at Blueprint 12 in. The exhibition is showcasing works in various mediums from installation, video, photography, textile, canvas, paper and sculpture. The artists participating in the show are Arun Kumar HG, Lavanya Mani, Masooma Syed, Sandip Pisalkar, Martand Khosla, Akash Nihalani, Sukanya Ghosh and Amina Ahmed.

There are sculptures, paintings, photographs, pai­n­t­ed textiles, videos, installat­i­ons using traditional and non-traditional materials including synthetic hair and medical X-rays.

The themes range from a number of human experien­c­es from migration to medical investigation, placing the body at the centre of individual and collective concerns.

For instance, Pakistani artist Masooma Syed, who now lives in Delhi, has made an installation with animal forms of deer and cats made out of human hair! She said, “It’s a story of my times, a place where flowers are made of silver and cats and deer of human hair, where bird perches on the tip of a knife and drinks poison, where landscape comes on your figure and red chillies are man’s best friend.”

Born in East Africa and New York Based Amina Ahmed’s work is based on the concept of repetition. Markings are often used until exhausted only to lead to the realisation that this journey is only the beginning. Words or sound is similarly used, the sound of calling, the way one calls to one’s mother or father; repeated over and over again. This repetition continues until the beloved face is revealed.

One of her a text-based wall mounted print titled Pukaar: Pillar to Post (National Anthems), is a work that has been a subject of discussion and collection for the artist for many years. Explained Amina, “I am fascinated by the way that all national anthems sound so similar, that the words just become a drone. In these anthems we hear the words of pride, of love and of war; of strength and of courage and honour; of art and of beauty; of homeland; of belonging and of exile. National Anthems seem always to be filled with a sense of longing. Putting the anthems together in a repeated pattern is one way to present, how in our yearning we all call out.”

Baroda-based Sandip Pisalkar has created a 400 kilogram heavy installation which will run on the notion of ‘body modification’ and ‘identification’, to depict soci­al behavioral patterns. The design element is inherent
in it.