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Caught between two cultures

Identity search Some of the works from the show

In the neat, compact and well lit OED (Open eyed Dreams) Gallery at Warriam Road, (climb up the stairs to the second floor) is this art show called ‘What the others are Upto’ (sic). Curated by Meenakshi Thirukode, it showcases the angst of some of the ‘others’ in alien climes, whose roots are somewhere in India and who are caught between two or more cultures like Mequitta Ahuja, who is of mixed ethnic origin, East Indian and African American. Her large canvas (enamel on paper) attracts you, first for its bright hues and then the details in the clothes her subject wears, for the intricate designs and the Indian-African design of the attire. And then you see the Obama-like colour and features of a half African, play with hair and the burden of something that the painter carries with her, the larger than life image of hair, entangled in a lot else, which is equal to the entire figure. There are two of these visually arresting works, in different postures, wearing the same attire. The conventional idea of art that the common man has takes an about turn with some of the exhibits at this show.

Vandana Jain’s ‘Tea Menagerie’, works with tea stain on paper, are set up as an installation on one side of the hall. Labour intensive works with tea stains, logos are what she plays around with to strike her point home, about the rightful place of the labourer vis-À-vis the corporates. Asiad Appu is among the corporate logo symbols she uses in her works.

Hetain Patel, born in UK of Indian parentage, is also caught between the two cultures and tries through his art to look and feel Indian. This video presentation is interesting and is Greek to the viewer if you are not informed about what the artist intends. Three images of a man sans face, clap, with two of them painting their torsos with something red, grabbed from somewhere behind. It turns out that the artist is trying to challenge his ‘British sensibilities’.

Fawad Khan, born in Libya, brought up in Pakistan and who later moved to the US went back to Pakistan to find his roots too. His works, gouache and ink on paper, are all vehicles, cars, buses and they are impacted against something, not smoothly riding along. They may be a reflection of his sensibilities again.

Divya Mehra’s videos are her body of work shown here. These spring from an urge to point to the world about the monotony of convention, of humour in the most unlikeliest of places and generally perk up one’s spirit while underlying it all is a sort of seriousness that the viewer will find hard to miss.

Rajkamal Kahlon is a Brooklyn-based painter who is disturbed by the racial and colonial authority, military rule and torture in the world. The frames and audio on show features the voice of a Guantanamo detainee, an Afghanistan tribal elder, who sang beautiful songs. Her multimedia art attempts to portray the new way in which war is viewed in the hi-tech global scene.

Swati Khurana’s ink and Xerox prints and digital prints at the hall, explore immigrant issues. The Indian born artist who now lives in New York has a varied oeuvre, collage, sculptures, videos, drawings and installations.

Anna Bhushan looks inward in two ways, from the intellectual and spiritual way to present her point with punch. You see anatomical forms, forms which refer to fertility icons and the belief that within us we hold the universe, the power that comes from within.

So, now that we know what the others are up to, perhaps, art from within the State will take wings and diversify to other media, to other unconventional forms and seek to express themselves via installations, more of videos and newer communication channels. The show at OED concludes on May 9.

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