Scream of Consciousness

“Before 9/11,I had never seen Muslim women in Dhaka wearing burqas. But after that,many young women started wearing the veil as if asserting their identity. This was done a year after 9/11,” says Lipi.

Rahman’s art too is surging with political ideas; one goes into the fractured history of his country. North South (2005) shows a splintered plywood cutout of the artist with two hearts thumping in the middle. “The compasses on the body depicting north and south point towards the political tragedy,” says curator Vidya Shivadas.

Of the 14 works,the escapist self-portraits I am Tara and I am a Little Buddha are done in conjunction with the traditional Paubha painters from Nepal. They depict a bejewelled Rahman on a lotus,with a halo around his neck — sparked off by a need to escape the political world into a decorative space.

Once you are through with Rahman and Lipi,move on to Gallery 2. It is a cacophony of noises. Rows of capsules with a sprig of wire growing inside greet you,while on the other side,industrial machines churn ceaselessly. A curtain made of gunny bags completes the picture. LN Tallur’s Souvenir Maker: Designed in America,Conceptualised in India,Made in China,Sponsored by Korea is about the world metamorphosing into a gigantic industrial unit.

The exhibition at Gallery 3 also packs in a crisis of South Asia. “The One Year Drawing Project” has 208 drawings by Sri Lankan artists Muhanned Cader,Thamotharampillai Shanaathanan,Chandraguptha Thenuwara and Jagath Weerasinghe. The project happened between May 2005 and October 2007 when the artists — in Jaffna and in the suburbs of Colombo — exchanged their drawings by post. The works were created in response to each other’s art. Caved in faces,mutilated feet,a disjointed torso — the drawings in ink bleed a sense of urgency.

(The shows are on till November 1.

Contact: 0124 4888100)