Year-long research on living traditions put on canvas

New Delhi: A year-long journey that artist Astha Butail undertook in researching living traditions that are passed on to generations through teaching and oral poetry, has culminated in the form of an ongoing exhibition here titled “In the Absence of Writing”. The exhibition, commissioned by The Gujral Foundation, is focussed on the Indian Vedic traditions, Zoroastrian Avesta, and Jewish Oral Torah, including their respective linguistic families Sanskrit, Avestan, and Hebrew.
Butail travelled to Varanasi, several towns in South India, Yazd (Iran), Jerusalem (Israel), and London, where she observed and recorded different memory techniques, as well as interviewed scholars, students and practitioners of each tradition. She also received BMW’s Art Journey award for this research in 2017-2018. The exhibition is ongoing at 24 Jor Bagh till February 28.
“Unlike a gallery or a museum, 24 Jor Bagh is an unconventional space that provides an artist with the platform to create experimental and site-specific projects that respond to the spaces within the house as well as its architecture. At the same time, it creates an unusual environment for viewers to experience art,” said Reha Sodhi, Curator of the exhibition.
“In the Absence of Writing”, according to The Gujral Foundation, is a suite of works whose titles are fragments of hymns from the Rig Veda. Butail uses a range of media to offer glimpses into the architecture of collective memory using video, sound, sculpture and interactive installations – to respond to the notions of space and time, values and culture, history and identity.
Pak artist to debut in India
In his debut solo show in India titled “Between The Lines”, Pakistani artist Khalil Chishtee will reflect upon his memories of a traumatic childhood post-Partition and political unjust of the newly-found country.
Scheduled to take place from February 11 to 16 at Visual Arts Gallery, India Habitat Centre here, the show will include 10 metal works created using Urdu calligraphy and two works on paper.
The show is being presented by Ashna Singh of Studio Art gallery, who said that Chishtee transforms the political turmoil, chaos of the past along with the personal conceptual struggles into aesthetically compelling visual experiences.
“Chishtee intends his art for transformation rather than decoration, diversion or indoctrination. In his view, art means to serve for cultivating knowledge of how to be in the world, for going through life. And it can be effective for developing a deeper understanding of your own experiences,” said Singh.
Chishtee,­ a figurative sculptor from Lahore, was haunted by the horrifying stories of his parent’s migration, which left him with discomfort to even look at pictures or read any literature from the Partition era.
In his politically-driven pieces displaying exotic calligraphy, he will be exhibiting an artful twist of the irony that the partition was. (IANS)