The City and Its Djinns

It is significant that Religare,the venue of the residency,is bang in the middle of the nodal Connaught Place,arguably one of the Capital’s most historic spots,which is undergoing major reconstructions now. The artists have taken over several corners of the gallery and made it their open studio and have been on field-trips around the city and the NCR,witnessing the changes.

Rajesh Kumar Prasad’s metaphor is of flexible historic buildings,constructed out of paper,that can morph to accommodate new structures being built across the otherwise picturesque vista. Nidhi Khurana has covered the top half of the gallery with personal maps of the city,dotted with familiar landmarks like the Mother Dairy milk booth,the corner paan shop and cows that stake-out traffic islands. “My husband draws a map for me everyday so I won’t get lost,but I invariably do and have to start all over again,” says Khurana.

Megha Katyal creates a labour-intensive Zen dream-house constructed entirely from woven yarn while Garima Jayadevan has made an enclosure covered in tiny mirrors shaped like the stone jalis of old buildings. “I bring together the sacred and secular—the enclosure will be lit to evoke the dazzling effect I witnessed when thousands of diyas were lit during Diwali. I felt it again when I was hit by the white light at the Delhi Metro,” says the Mumbai-based artist.

Jitish Mallik from Chandigarh is busy taking molds of spaces between the pillars at Connaught Place.”I want to question the significance of these pristine white pillars created by the British and replicated by us Indians,” says the artist-architect.

The international artists have also responded to the city — Onishi Yasuaki from Japan has created a diaphanous web from bits of discarded string and twine collected around the city,while US-based Rebecca Brown has ferreted out abandoned furniture and concrete bricks that she has covered with colourful collage paperworks. “This is inspired by brick-piles lying around the city; sometimes they have fungus growing on them. This explores an interesting relation with nature,” says Brown. Brad Bincardi also from the US is creating a mural of auto rickshaws and dust clouds. “I find myself torn between wanting to explore the city as a tourist and responding to it critically as an artist,” he muses.

The exhibition will open on August 1 at the end of the residency at Religare Arts,K G Marg. For details contact 43727000.