Pragati Dalvi Jain was born in Indore, studied in Mumbai and made Bengaluru her home post marriage. She has been interested in capturing and portraying the activities in her surroundings through art. “It can be on a canvas, a mobile or interactive work.”
Her solo show, Shapes of Unseen Voices, opens on March 2. “It has been over a decade since I started working around women and empowerment.” The work features domestic help. “The show explores how women of my generation and the elderly see them. Are they seen, unseen or are they somewhere in the grey area?”
Shapes of Unseen Voices, Pragati says is also about perceptions change. “We pay attention to our house help, their lives, routine and the time they come into our homes, only if they work for us. Else we are in no way connected to them or these thoughts.” The 39-year-old artist, has a Bachelor in Fine Arts (2007) and a Master in Fine Arts Painting (2009) from Sir JJ School of Art, Mumbai.
Over the past decade, Pragati has been part of many solo and group exhibitions in India and abroad, besides being a visiting artist fellow (2020-21) at Harvard University, Cambridge. She has participated in a long-duration performance workshop at the Marina Abramovic Institute Greece in August 2022.
Shapes of Unseen Voices, Pragati explains centres around her recent multidisciplinary body of works, comprising conceptual and performative photographs, sculptural and video installations, a live performance and paintings.
A keen observer, Pragati says she examines facial and bodily expressions of people in public and intimate spaces. “I correlates them with the intangible emotions reflected through body language.”
Curated by Nalini S Malaviya, the show will feature a work titled ‘Can’t Remember Love.’ “It is an immersive performance piece that explores love as an emotion, its layers and complexities, and its reciprocation or lack thereof. Interacting with a mannequin and attempting to elicit a response – expectation and rejection form extremities of the interaction, defining the composite nature of relationships.”
From the series ‘Can’t remember love’ | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
The show opens with a performance piece, ‘The Chase’, in collaboration with a senior textile designer, Jayshree Poddar. “We walk in opposite directions along an infinite loop at our own pace. She is 67-years-old and our movements leave the audience thinking if she is chasing youth or I am chasing her wisdom. Showing that we are all in some kind of a chase.”
Performance pieces, Pragati explains are different from performing arts as these are conceptual. It is unpredictable and so is the response. It involves an interaction with the audience that I may know the beginning but not the end.”
Shapes of Unseen Voices is at Chitrakala Parishat from March 2 to 6, between 11am to 7pm.
