Spine
India Nepal Collaborative Workshop 2010
Bangalore, India
Organize by Khoj at 1shanthiroad
 |
| 150 pairs of used workers gloves, aluminum hangers, pipe lights, rope, ladder |
Urban Life
Theertha International Artist workshop, Sri Lanka 2010
Organized by Treertha
Eco of Pain
Installation in Prison Room, International Human Rights Workshop 2008
Green Island, Taiwan
The government of Taiwan conducted a workshop in Green Island commemorating the well over 2000 political prisoners that consisted of writers, painters and artists amongst others. The organizers summoned 20 artists that included the local and the foreign art practitioners. In the present day this prison house in Green Island has been turned into a museum.
I worked in one of the prison rooms where I created three different art works that were interconnected with one another. In one of my installation I selected eight names out of 2000 prisoners and wrote them on the wall. Then I covered it with eight fishing net. Since it was an island and our materials to create artworks were limited therefore I incorporated a fishing net that was easily available there. My
intension of using fishing net was because I wanted to represent suffocation since the harsh fishing net is used to capture and kill fishes. Here, as I stated above, the eight fishing nets contained names of the eight prisoners. On the exact opposed wall of this installation I arrangied eight of my color photographs that were covered with the fishing net.
In my second presentation I used the same photos but this time in b/w which I pasted all over the tiles of the toilet. I came to know from the museum personnel that the prisoners were extremely tortured. The Green Island prison is located in the island which is surrounded by the sea; therefore, the prisoners could see the vast sea but when it came to using water to take shower or drink they had to use the water from the toilet. This created an everlasting torture in the mind of the prisoners. By manipulating such sentiments I arranged my portrait in the hole of the toilet, as if a prisoner is trying to come out of it.
My third work consisted of barb wire that was placed on the window. The prisoners could see the open space outside; however, that was the only solace that they could get. Other than that, their freedom was not only snatched away from them, but toping that, they were extremely tortured by using various methods. I also came to know that there were 16 different methods to torture these prisoners. Few of these methods were by making them take dog shit, drink urine, pressing their fingers, taking off their finger nails, locking them in the ice room, excessively beating one of the prisoners and make the others see or hear the painful scream etc. I wrote these methods of torturing in the wall and then placed the barb wire below the window overlapping the writings. In this presentation my intention was to compare the outer open expansive view from the prison window and the inward torturous and grim cell.
Portrait of Devilal'
(Nepali worker Devi Lal in Banglore)
India Nepal Collaborative Workshop 2010
Bangalore, India
Organize by Khoj at 1shanthiroad
 |
|
150 Photos of Devi lal taken from Gallery's small window,
Devi Lal's shirt & one concrete block raping with Band-Aid.
|
Stories Behind the Clothe
Britto International artist residency 2006, Bangladesh
Organize by: Britto
In this residency, i made a project, working with the laborers from different backgrounds. With this end in my mind i carefully observed various teashops, garages, & small metal industries around the Dhaka city. I continuously asked myself what a contemporary artist could bring to their daily routine, their place of work & their lives without being patronizing towards them and their work. The answer was simple: I could give them rest. Over the course of one working week I dedicated two hours of my time per day to relieving various laborers of their duties. In this way i worked in different shop & industries of Dhaka for a week. These places include tea shops, garages and casting workshop amongst other. Often i became the pupil, having to quickly learn the trade and then being almost completely dependent on the guidance of each worker's expertise.
GIFT FROM FIRST WORLD
International
Artist Workshop Bangladesh 2008
Organized
by: Porapara A Space for Artist
“Gift from First World” was done
by three glass boxes. The cotton buds that were attached with pins were kept in
one box, the second box was full with band aid leaves that were fixed by the
thump pins, while the real acid inside the eye drop bottles were put in 3rd
box. I rapped the 3 boxes with red ribbons and represent them as the gift boxes
adding flowers that I made with ribbons as well. I showed my dissatisfaction
through a satire way to the rich and powerful countries that look down to the
poor countries and try to show that they provide help to the poor which is to
me a big contradiction.
SOUTH ASIAN RESIDENCY, PAKISTAN (VASL)
The work I did in Karachi was quite spontaneous. The ideas
were very impulsive coming out of premeditated mind. I wandered the street of Karachi
with small and big market closing in on me. I wanted to bring those entire busy
ambiences inside the gallery, which was not practically possible. Therefore, I
went to these bazaars with my work. I made a human image from the cloth and
installed it in various markets at different time. Then I photographed the whole
event and project it at the gallery. I wanted to freeze my spontaneity though
the human image, leave it there for a while and observe how it reacts to an
entirely new atmosphere.
