Against the System

From confronting white hegemony in the field of knowledge to menstrual taboos and patriarchal control of domestic spaces, a group show documents the art of dissent in all its varieties, informs Adwait Singh.

- Adwait Singh

“Does it feel weird going to an opening after all this time?” my friend asked me as we drove down to the gallery all masked up on a Saturday afternoon. I pondered over that for a moment as my eyes took in the familiar hubbub of the streets bathed by a gentle September sun redolent with the fading monsoon. There were more masks on the streets of course, but other than that everything seemed normal. And yet, there remained the fact that this was the first exhibition I was visiting in real-time since March when the lockdown started. So what does it mean for the exhibition to be taking up space right now with the pandemic showing no signs of relenting and for one to be venturing forth to pay witness?

I arrived just in time for Aqui Thami’s daily Ceremony to Bear Witness, with the curator Shaunak Mahbubani preparing to light an aromatic mixture of forest mulch and therapeutic herbs sent by the artist from their native Gorkhaland, denoting the semi-autonomously governed region around Darjeeling and Kalimpong Hills in North-West Bengal with a predominantly Nepali-speaking demographic. The region has been fighting for complete statehood in a bid to preserve its distinct socio-cultural fabric, and the ceremony seeks to honor the memory of those who have perished or gone missing, one activist a day for the duration of the exhibition. This work is part of Seeds are Being Sown organized by Prameya Art Foundation at Shrine Empire Gallery, New Delhi, from the 11th of September to the 24th of October.