The latest exhibition at Gallery Sumukha, “Memorabilia” explores memory through the tool of photography.
The exhibition features artists Sabrina Osborne, Moutushi Chakraborty, Venugopal V.G., Ravi Kumar Kashi, Mohan Kumar T, Anoli Perera, Clare Arni, Priti Vadakkath, Samanta Batra Mehta and the Indian Memory Project.
The artists explore personal memory, history, culture and public memory through drawings, photo-montages, paintings, installation and video.
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Clare Arni, for instance, captures memories of old Bangalore through the once-popular, now-derelict spots like the Dewar’s bar or the Regal Theatre. Moutushi Chakraborty’s paintings reflect upon the Colonial era in photography when the purdah was still in place, so only the royals or nautch girls were captured in archives. T. Mohan Kumar’s memories are personal and cultural. He captures memories of cooking and eating with family and friends, largely through his videos.
Priti Vadakkath explores her ancestry as seen in the family album that spans across four generation through her paintings.
“I like the idea of the audience engaging deeply with the work of artists within a curation, and so enjoy working on subjects that are universal, and touch a common chord. In this day and age of rapid transition, and sophisticated technology, I think looking back into the past. Here the varied expressions of the artists will take the viewers into their own personal journeys connecting past and present. It is not meant to be only about sentimentality or nostalgia (as some others have written about it) but about taking stock of our times and engaging with what has gone by through the physical remnants of photographs,” explains curator Lina Vincent Sunish.
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“The artists explore memory of different sorts – private, public, memory of the ‘other’ – through different devices and mediums, using the photograph as a kind of foundation or reference. For example, Venugopal V.G. identifies with his native home, and the material structures remnant – his old school, ancestral house, and other edifices – of days past, through a set of water colour and pastel works, and a layered installation that transposes animation over a static image of painted canvas. Anoli Perera looks at her nation’s memories, particularly aware of the lengthy civil war that created a hole in the history of the country. Ravi Kashi attempts to create fictitious memories of himself, that may cast a confusion over the way he is remembered in posterity.”
“Memorabilia” will be on view until January 25 at Gallery Sumukha, 24/10, BTS Depot Road Wilson Garden. For details, contact 22292230.