The Covid-19 pandemic has pressed a reset button on the lives of most people, compelling us to reassess and reconfigure our lifestyles and firmly entrenched beliefs. When the lockdown kicked in, many artists thought of it as an opportunity to continue their creative pursuits in forced isolation. But 12 weeks into the pandemic that refuses to bid adieu, like everybody else, the art community, too, is getting used to the 'new normal.'
So, it may be interesting to look at an exhibition which explores the work of five Indian women artists that allude to the moment that we are experiencing, highlighted through their eclectic bodies of work that refer to the current zeitgeist in their own distinct ways of expression.
The art on display is creative as well as thought-provoking. Mithu Sen’s mixed media collages and scratch drawings are based on 'manipulated' social media posts. Anita Dube’s photos of eyes glued on her palms recall the application of mehendi in the spirit of bhakti and shringar, but also act as a performance gesture. Shilpa Gupta’s Half a Sky series is an abstract reference to the pandemic and defines how permeable are its boundaries, just like the sky. Prajakta Potnis uses film slides kept in a freezer as the site of a memory bank, invoking an interview in which critic Boris Groys said the "memory functions as a freezer". Pushpamala N returns with another edition of Phantom Lady, her photo-performance series shot noir-style.
