Intimate Distance, Curated by Alnoor Mitha
04, Oct 2024 to 07, Oct 2024 Viewing Room
Intimate Distance explores the work of contemporary women artists from various regions in India who are at the forefront of artistic debates. The exhibition showcases new and diverse interdisciplinary practices that challenge the norms of contemporary art. How do women artists in India respond to societal issues? How do they navigate the competitive world of art presentation? Intimate Distance brings together artists from diverse cultural lineages, offering distinct perspectives and varied relationships.
Each artist brings a unique perspective to their work, shaped by their subjective experiences and the interplay of memory and emotion. From distant childhood memories to recent episodic moments, these experiences form the foundation of their artistic identity. The interpretation of these memories is inherently personal, allowing the artists’ to distill complex emotions and narratives into their visual language.
The act of creating art thus becomes a powerful tool for transformation, where intimate recollections are translated into tangible forms. As artists navigate the fluidity of time, they challenge the notion of distance—both temporal and emotional—by making memories palpable and accessible.
In this way, art becomes a vehicle for connection, inviting people to engage with their own memories and experiences. The artists in this exhibition embody these themes through their individual practices, each engaging with the rich tapestry of time, identity, and emotion in their unique ways.
Arpana Caur continues this exploration of time through her obsession with Day and Night brings forth the power of the night, where the moon reigns over sleeping cities, reflecting her memories of a resilient single mother who built a Cultural Centre from the ground up. Jayasri Burman invokes the feminine power of nature, depicting figures that embody the nurturing qualities of the Earth with cycles of growth and decay and resurgence, drawing from mythological narratives that reiterate our connection to the planet. Kanchan Chander’s evocative depictions celebrate diverse emotional landscapes of femininity by delving into the female form's ambiguous relationship with power, violence, and sensuality, while Seema Kohli imagines mythical worlds through an eco-feminist lens, exploring beauty and sensuality across civilisations. Her work celebrates the cosmic feminine and its ties to creation and destruction, using the concept of The Golden Womb, to reshape identities and foster dialogue between past and present. Rekha Rodwittiya’s politically vigilant feminist practice presents the female figure in a non-voyeuristic manner. Deeply influenced by the stories of women overcoming patriarchal oppression, she embodies their legacies and integrates them into her artistic journey. Manisha Parekh masterfully explores abstraction through her use of ink, watercolour, and charcoal. Her works echo the ethereal abstractions of Gaitonde and the geometric craftsmanship of Nasreen Mohammedi, merging organic and geometric forms rooted in the craft traditions of her homeland. Ayisha Abraham opens the conversation with her large-format lithographs, delving into fragments of a personal journey through assemblages of observed, found, collected, sketched, and painted images. Chetnaa introduces geometric precision, exploring the balance of positive and negative space through intricate techniques that evolve into three-dimensional works, inviting contemplation of the urban landscape. Ruchika Wason Singh investigates human habitation through oils, Chinese ink and Japanese sumi-e ink techniques, merging mark-making and urban complexity to create layered dialogues about materiality, desire, and the duality between consumption and minimalism. Shanthamani Muddaiah engages with the fragility of existence through her use of charcoal, a medium that symbolises both life and its inevitable end. Her work reflects this transition, representing life as a living plant and its inevitable end as ash, embodying a profound journey of self-discovery. Siri Devi's work engages viewers with the interplay of perception and reality through reflective, Rorschach-like mirrors on lotus flower pedestals. This “mind mining” invites introspection, emphasising the transient nature of truth and the illusion of existence, encouraging viewers to construct their own individual truths in fleeting moments of contemplation. Vasudha Thozhur’s work embodies a shift in painting as a living language, embracing diverse expressions that emerge from the entanglement of thoughts and feelings. It seeks to reclaim lost dimensions of emotion amid the commodification and fragmentation of time.
Together, these artists create a dynamic conversation that reveals the profound beauty in the intersections of personal and collective experiences. Their varied practices invite us to reflect on our own connections to time, space, and identity, offering a space for introspection and resonance.
Alnoor Mitha
Rekha Rodwittiya
Paintings
watercolour on paper | 30 x 22 inches | 2018
Rekha Rodwittiya
Paintings
Watercolour on paper | 30 x 22 inches | 2018
Rekha Rodwittiya
Paintings
Watercolour on paper | 30 x 22 inches | 2018
Rekha Rodwittiya
Paintings
Watercolour on paper | 30 x 22 inches | 2018
Rekha Rodwittiya
Paintings
https://artcentrix.com/uploads/2024/09-September/14-Sat/Screen%20Shot%202024-09-12%20at%203-01-09%20PM.png | 30 x 22 inches | 2018
Rekha Rodwittiya
Paintings
Watercolour on paper | 30 x 22 inches | 2018
Arpana Caur
Paintings
Acrylic on canvas | 60 x 54 inches | 2024
Ruchika Wason Singh
Paintings
Oil on canvas | 60 x 54 inches | 2024
Ruchika Wason Singh
Paintings
Oil on canvas | 60 x 54 inches | 2024
Shantamani Muddaiah
Paintings
Ink and acrylic on handmade cotton rag | 64.2 x 45.3 Inches | 2015
Seema Kohli
Paintings
Acrylic colours and ink on canvas with 24ct gold and silver leaf | 24 x 24 inches | 2024
Seema Kohli
Paintings
Acrylic colours and ink on canvas with 24ct gold and silver leaf | 72 x 48 inches | 2024
Seema Kohli
Paintings
Acrylic colours and ink on canvas with 24ct gold and silver leaf | 36 x 36 inches | 2024
Ayisha Abraham
Paintings
Lithograph | 36 x 24 inches | AP | 2023
Ayisha Abraham
Paintings
Lithograph | 36 x 24 inches | AP | 2023
Siri Devi Khandavilli
Paintings
Teak wood, silver and mixed media | 12 inches diameter each Series of 50 | 2024
Ayisha Abraham
Paintings
Lithograph | 36 x 24 inches | AP | 2023
Ayisha Abraham
Paintings
Lithograph | 36 x 24 inches | AP | 2023
Ayisha Abraham
Prints
Artist book with Printed Collage | 7 x 4.5 inches | 2023
Ayisha Abraham
Prints
Artist Book With Collage | 7 x 4.5 | 2023
Chetnaa
Paintings
May tranfer, inl, graphite, 22ct gold , acrylic, print on paper (set of 21) | 11 x 11 inches each | 2024
Jayasri Burman
Paintings
Pen and Ink on Shikishi Board | 16 x 12 inches | 2021
Jayasri Burman
Paintings
Pen and Ink on Shikishi Board | 16 x 12 inches | 2021
Jayasri Burman
Paintings
Pen and Ink on Shikishi Board | 16 x 12 inches | 2021
Jayasri Burman
Paintings
Pen and Ink on Shikishi Board | 16 x 12 inches | 2021
Kanchan Chander
Sculptures
Steel | 48 x 32 x 24 inches | 2008
Shantamani Muddaiah
Paintings
Ink and acrylic on Handmade cotton Rag | 64.2 X 45.3 inches | 2015
Shantamani Muddaiah
Installations
Burnt wood on aluminium frame | 12 inches dia | Pedestal 20.9 X 11 X 1 Inches | 2023
Shantamani Muddaiah
Sculptures
Wood, charcoal with cotton rag pulp | 48 x 36 x 20 inches approx | 2017
Shantamani Muddaiah
Installations
Wood, charcoal with cotton rag pulp | 24 x 46 x 40 inches | AP | 2017-2023
Manisha Parekh
Paintings
Watercolour on fabriano paper | 30 x 18 inches | 2022
Manisha Parekh
Paintings
Watercolour on fabriano paper | 30 x 18 inches | 2022
Shantamani Muddaiah
Paintings
Ink and acrylic on handmade cotton rag | 64.2 x 45.3 Inches | 2015