The Power of the WRITTEN WORD

Pushpamala N's latest solo show comprises two distinct sets of works based on the common thread of scripts which seem contrary in nature; one is like shasanas: a practice associated with power and the other with resistance, says Saraswathy K Bhattathiri

One of the most thought-provoking artists in the contemporary art scene, Bengaluru-based Pushpamala N, who exhibits widely in India and abroad, works with various mediums like performance, photos, sculpture, curation and writing. In her latest solo show titled 'Epigraphica Indica' at Gallery Sumukha, Bengaluru, from March 12 - April 16, 2022, she displayed how the written word wields its power in everyday life. Two sets of exhibits were part of the show - 'Atlas of Rare and Lost Alphabets (2015-2018)' and 'Nara/slogans (2020-2022). The former is a set of 100 installations, which was inspired by a vitrine containing ancient inscriptions incised on copper plates while on her visit to the archeological museum of Bengaluru.

The act of transcribing the letters is articulated as a performative act reminiscent of scribes copying manuscripts in mediaeval libraries. She brings in references of anthropologist James C Scott' s terminology and ideas on Hidden Transcripts, which is connected to mysterious languages of resistance and cultural preservation contextual in time. Nara is a set of 50 works that commemorates slogans and poems of recent popular protests in India. These are designed in various styles like that of Russian posters, books, dialogue boxes and graph pages using various typographies. In both the series, words and images are etched into copper plates and treated with brown and greenish patinas.