Michelle Y Poonawalla presents her collateral project at the Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2018

As a part of Kochi-Muziris Biennale’s collateral programme, Michelle Y. Poonawalla will present Introspection - a multimedia installation at the Cochin Club from 12 December 2018 to 12 January 2019.
Michelle Poonawalla
Michelle Poonawalla

As a part of Kochi-Muziris Biennale’s collateral programme, Michelle Y Poonawalla will present Introspection - a multimedia installation at the Cochin Club from 12 December 2018 to 12 January 2019.

The project builds on Poonawalla’s increasing interest in larger scale interactive installations and the use of new digital technologies in her artistic practice. This exhibition expands on the work in her most recent exhibition at Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai which used mapped projections and motion sensor technology.

Using fragments of audio clips from newsreels combined with ambient sounds, Introspection creates a highly visceral and eerie experience which Poonawalla hopes will push the audience into a contemplative space.

“Sound and video mapping are incredible new technologies and I’m really excited by the possibilities they have opened up for my practice. They enable me to create new immersive worlds which lead the audience on a new journey and force them to really engage with the work.” - Michelle Poonawalla

For Poonawalla, Introspection was born from a contemplation on the barrage of images of violence and displacement on endlessly repeated news cycles. The project is intended to take the viewer through an experience using sound and abstract visuals to create an intensely physical, immersive experience that she hopes will provide a stark contrast to the apathy and voyeurism within which images are often consumed.

To mark the opening of the exhibition and the launch of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2018, the artist will be hosting a private view and reception at Cochin Club on the evening of Saturday, 15 December.

Michelle Y Poonawalla has been painting throughout her life, having first been influenced by her late grandfather Jehangir Vazifdar, a renowned architect and an artist. With a graduate degree in Interior Design and a Bachelor of Arts from the American College, London, Poonawalla’s practice formalised when she had her first show in 2016 at the Gateway School and has since, continued to exhibit her work in solo and group shows in India and internationally.

Whilst Poonawalla’s artistic style has varied, experimenting with techniques and technology has remained a constant in her approach. Poonawalla’s practice explores her artistic heritage through a contemporary prism, marrying a classic paint-on-canvas style with digital technology.

For her collateral project at Kochi-Muzuris Biennale, Poonawalla has turned to sound, to create an immersive installation that intends to create a moment of contemplation and pause. Alongside her work as an artist Poonawalla also illustrated and published a well-received children’s book The Adventures of Harvey Mouse Sleepover alongside her daughter in 2017.

The artist’s key exhibitions include Khushi - India On Canvas in conjunction with Sotheby's, New Delhi, 2017; India Art Story, Kolkata, 2017; Elephant Parade India, Jaipur, Delhi & Mumbai, 2017 & 2018; What If You Fly, a solo exhibition curated by Swapan Seth at Vis A Vis Gallery, New Delhi, and Spazio Gallery, Pune, both 2018; Moving into the Future - Harvest 2018, a group exhibition at Stainless Gallery, New Delhi, 2018; a project at the Parma Art Fair, Italy with the gallery Marco Antonio Patrizio, 2018; Born Free at Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai, 2018 and Introspection, a collateral project at Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2018.

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