Artist Shubhra Chaturvedi바카라s 바카라Halla Bowl바카라바카라a series of paper pulp bowls바카라is a reminder that we must look, remember and stay with the story. In an interview with author, journalist and activist Revati Laul, Chaturvedi discusses the process of creating her art.
There바카라s a place beyond the slick sirens on Insta and the carousel of reels in constant tantalising play in front of us. 바카라Kareena, Kareena, ma바카라am, this side please.바카라 There is the happy repeat seduction of stars in GIFs taking our agitated minds off most things. But there is the deeper, more abiding and retro way of seeing that an artist in Delhi brought back to our collective consciousness.
It바카라s the act of remembering. The deeply political act of seeing past the flat deception of news telling us that the assembly elections in Kashmir are about everything being normal. Instead of this sanitised political erasure, there is an artist who insists that we must raise hell. Shubhra Chaturvedi, 51, has a charm that comes from an unflinching emotionally raw naivete that our deeply cynical world and our tired eyes need most.
We need to see again the real trauma that is Kashmir post the taking away of its essential identity in 2019. We need to see and remember the distress of our farmers, whose protests were greeted with nails strewn across our highways at the behest of the police. Seeing is remembering. Seeing is the deeply soulful political act that Chaturvedi brought to our eyes through her solo show at Delhi바카라s Bikaner House (September 21-26). Khud Se RoohbaRooh바카라 was her invitation not to have a tete-a- tete literally with one바카라s self but for the country to have a deep dark look at itself in all its gory, unsavouriness. Look, remember and stay with the story, stay with the farmers, the Palestinians, the Kashmiris, the migrants we lost to COVID. Do not look away. Commit this political act of staying and seeing, says Chaturvedi. Raise hell.
바카라Halla Bowl바카라 is a series of paper pulp bowls. One is filled with nails바카라that the artist calls 바카라Jai Jawan Jai Kisan바카라. Another has remnants of rice. Who gets to eat and who stays hungry? There is an essential seeing that is a relief from the pantomime-like images we are fatted on. Raising hell is old-world agitation, the world of street protests and Safdar Hashmi, returning to tell us to wake up and stay awake.
In Chaturvedi바카라s own words, here바카라s more of what to expect and what not to miss.
What is art for you?
I feel that an artist바카라s work has to reflect the times. I바카라m not saying that all art has to be dark. But in my art, it has to reflect everything. There바카라s an entire body of work that I labelled 바카라Andolanjeevi.바카라 I said I바카라m an Andolanjeevi artist.
When the abrogation of Article 370 happened in Kashmir, I was in the hills and I was all alone. I didn바카라t have anyone around to give vent to my feelings. So at that point of time, I made this work which was called 바카라Nazarband.바카라
What were you feeling when you made that painting, of hands clutching jail bars? It바카라s a very, very, powerful work.
Suffocation. And so helpless. People couldn바카라t make calls. There was no electricity for some days.
Then during COVID, you made a very hard-hitting series called 바카라Sab Yaad Rakha Jayega,바카라 and there was one painting within that called 바카라No one died due to oxygen shortage.바카라
Basically, 2020 was a period globally of anxiety. When the second wave of COVID happened my own family, my own aunt was hospitalised for fifteen days. And at one point it was very touch and go because of the oxygen shortage in Delhi hospitals. And the whole family came together to find one cylinder. We even got looted by someone for it. There were so many deaths all around, in the country. And then in July or around then, in our Parliament, the health minister said: 바카라No one died due to oxygen shortage바카라. When something is said in the Parliament, it is recorded. So, I was thinking바카라what is this? Did people die of nothing? So, I made the series바카라'Sab Yaad Rakha Jayega바카라.
What did you feel about the farmers바카라 protests? What was it in those protests that you were responding to?
I feel very strongly about people who are bringing food to our table. I made my work at the point when the police put nails바카라cemented nails바카라to the road to prevent tractors from coming into Delhi. And I was, like바카라this is IT. You give us food and we give you nails. You don바카라t have to agree with the farmers but can바카라t you sit across a table and talk to them? Why are you preventing them from coming in? This is their capital, their country. Why? My whole thought was바카라how low can we go?
The other work that also got you an award was 바카라Gaza Patti바카라. What made you feel strongly about Gaza and what were you conveying through that work?
So when this whole Gaza thing happened, initially I was at some distance from this news emotionally because it was international. But then I saw that this was not stopping. The bombing of civilians kept going on and on. Then a friend of mine posted a poem on Facebook. The poem says that the medical gauze we use to cover our wounds gets its name from the city of Gaza. Because they have a centuries-old tradition of being the finest healers. The poem talked of how many wounds of ours have been healed by you and how many wounds of yours have been opened because of us. When I read that, it touched me deeply.
Are you scared when you take a stand and put your work out there for the public?
Let me be honest. It바카라s not that I바카라m not scared. But I strongly believe that art has to be a documentation of the artist바카라s life. And the times that the artist lived in. So, I can바카라t do it any other way. I thought about it a lot. Why am I doing this? Why can I not just make non-controversial work, within quotes. But then I realised it바카라s not like I바카라m thinking and doing this. It바카라s not that I바카라m saying바카라okay, I바카라ll make a controversial work, okay I바카라ll make this. I am just responding to the world through my art. And my art work is also about healing. There is so much bloodshed happening but what we need is healing.
