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And When She Roared the Universe Quaked

Shakuntala Kulkarni interrogates the constructs of the gendered body and the multiplicity of the feminine self in a patriarchal society via paintings and video-based installations. Shubhalakshmi Shukla reviews the show and says that both the vulnerability and power of the gendered self encapsulates within the cascading spirit of the primordial mother goddess.

When the self can adapt multivalent roles, it can be an endless game. Thus, Shakuntala asks “is it just a game” ?

She adapts diverse roles which vary in small degrees, and yet remains a sole character. To manifest these roles she indulges into the games she played in her childhood- Karaate, Ceremonial Martial Arts, Kabbadi, theatre games where she  interrogates and investigates myths as critical subjects to envisage what gendered body means to her.

In the present show she encapsulates her practice within the cascading spirit of primordial mother goddess. On the one hand she is malevolent –pulsating and throbbing character in her videos and on the other benevolent in her languid, slow-settling drawings and paintings. Where the movement, sound and the light engender the malevolent spirit, the static and flaccid drawings do engender a benevolent spirit.

One may ask what makes such an indulgence occur in the time when most of the art forms are endorsing the post-modern outlook ?

Interrogating myths of mother goddess along with that of Eklavya seems to be an inspiring and boisterous action in this exhibition. If I had to merely write about the stretching of the bow, which demands complete concentration and oneness with one’s own dignified self, my favorite character would be Arjuna. He looked down to shoot up right in the eye...!

The videos capture the mood of the audience as throbbing with creative energy. This is brought into human emotion through specific light arrangements, along with camera and action. An experiment with the totality of film-making to induce a thought for the punitive that could allow entertainment. Hence, it is not a path that ventures into gaming devoid of astonishment. Here, the unavoidable explicit details on body- politic are enhanced due to a pendulous state of play between devout and ecstatic ‘suffering’ that brings about an action in most of the gender conscious artists of this generation.

Yet, what captured my interest foremost in this show is a set of two paintings. It is somewhat a traumatic in experience. The two visuals indicate a single man and a single woman nude as prominently placed in different frames. The black-ink brush strokes have bruised all over the surfaces and the distinctly chalked out house-plan in red-borders stands as truly immaculate borders.

In the above paintings, the back of the androgynous appearing male is made to appear sensual and caring -preparing the bed – arranging the lihaaf. The woman on the other hand lies on the bed of arrows like the mythical figure of Mahabharat- Yuddhishthira. A bouquet is placed inverted on her as if falling from the sky, while a distinct pain on her face makes it clear that her state is no better than a wounded mare (which appears as small motifs in the same visual). Thus, she is enthused to aggravate the fact that ‘design oriented’ beaming house plan may bout celebration as well as distance and separation.

She could be read as the surrogate (mother) of Yuddhishthira, who desires water at the moment of death and yet the house plan does not bring about a second presence around her, other than the inverted bouquet from the sky..!

Lihaaf ( remembering Ismat Chugtai) takes a dynamic turn in these two visuals, where in the pleasure oriented sensuality gets reversed on the basis of an act so mundane and impossible to with draw with whatever may be the occasion.