In this exhibition, Nalini Malani explores concepts and concerns that have preoccupied her for decades – notions of oppression and dominance, of freedom and justice. Her art pushes the boundaries of the visual and engages in an optical theatre that is a commentary not only on the present but also on who we are, where we come from and where we are going.
As the pioneer of experimental art in India, she creates immersive installations, ephemeral wall drawings, erasure performances, animation chambers and her signature video/shadow plays. Her work questions the profound certainties of life, of society, of experience-persisting ‘evidence’, which is encountered and felt. In her practice, Malani, as an engaged witness, exerts an artistic pressure on inherited iconographies and cherished cultural constructs.
Text and photos: BDL Museum
The Witness | Nalini Malani will be on view from January 11 through March 31, 2020.
