“I’ve often found an unuttered stress, awkwardness, arrogance and sometimes ease, a confrontation that precipitates within individuals in a group of people. It fascinates me — the idea of a possible conversation between two strangers in close proximity, challenging our notion of how receptive and oblivious to the presence of others, we are,” says artist Pragati Jain, as we begin to talk to her about her upcoming exhibition at Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath — Shapes of Unseen Voices.
Video, photography and performative art — the exhibition will feature artworks in the mediums the artist majorly finds her voice in. Thematically, the works are all different facets of the same topic — people and their relationships.
The Bengaluru-based artist, who is an alumna of the prestigious Sir JJ School of Arts, practices performance-photography in public spaces such as commercial areas, narrow streets, parks and bus stops where there are unpredictable variations in people’s movement. The forthcoming exhibition will include her works from over a decade. Ahead of it, we sit with Pragati to find out more about what we can expect at the forthcoming exhibition. Excerpts:
Tell us a bit about Shapes of Unseen Voices?
The artworks at this exhibition examine both personal and social subjects, taking into account the politics of gender and identity. My work is informed and substantiated by research, in which the subjects are the people who are part of our daily lives, some of whom are on the fringes of society — often invisible and ignored. I’ve portrayed the intangibilities of prejudices through tangible media like photography and videography — hence, the name.
What is the theme of the exhibition?
The artworks address immediate issues concerning modern relationships through a domestic lens and the influence of culture and technology on these relationships in today’s time. It poses the question, ‘how close is close enough?’ by examining how human interactions have become limited to online presence and chats rather than real-life, in-person connections.
Take us through the artworks to be displayed?
Some of the artworks to be featured at the exhibition include Her Remains — a series of photographic installations that reflect on loss and death and presence/absence of the body versus the memories that linger. Can’t Remember Love, on the other hand, is an immersive performance piece that explores love and its reciprocation or the lack thereof. In terms of performance pieces — there is Once I was a Branch, a three-hour performance where I deliberately chisel a branch into a knife and disfigure its identity. The benign mass is converted into a replica of the perpetuating tool. My suite of recent paintings are in monochrome — an intense black and its variations, including its diluent tones that examine notions of conflicts, contrasts, parallels and congruence. The absoluteness of reality and the intrinsic ambiguities correlate with the tonalities of grey.
The artworks in this exhibition are primarily in monochrome. What made you choose the colour palette?
There was not a conscious effort to work with a specific colour palette, except when it came to the paintings and many of the performance pieces are not monochrome. The Black and White series of paintings were done to dilute lines of separation between people and circumstances. They were an attempt to examine how the presence and absence of light defines shape and form.
What are some of your upcoming projects?
Some of the projects I have in the pipeline right now include Finding My Way Back, Letters from Home, One Thing Changes the Other, Adjusting the Clock and You Come in My Dreams.
Entry free. March 2-6. At Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath, Kumarakrupa Road. +918022261816.
Email: prattusa@newindianexpress.com
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