TryGOLD- Free

Portraying Absence
Outlook|November 21, 2024
Exhibits at a group art show in Kolkata examine existence in the absence
- Snigdhendu Bhattacharya
Portraying Absence

NEI Tai Khachchho, Thakle Kotahay Petey is an age-old Bengali riddle. It roughly translates to: You’re enjoying your meal because of an absence/where would you get it from if it were present?

How does absence impact presence? Dialectics in the Upanishads tell us that existence and void are inseparable. Karl Marx would say that you own more property because some people don’t. Does void create existence, just as existence vanishes into void?

In the case of painter-installation artist Shambhavi, the lost time and space of her childhood in a Bihar village grew deep roots in her mindscape as she moved to live and work in cities. The lost moments of standing beneath a tall palm tree and watching its leaves fall took the shape of an installation, recently displayed at a Kolkata exhibition.

Spread over one and a half walls in a dimly lit room, the seven falling leaves of different shapes, angles and shadows are frozen in motion. You stand there, you close your eyes, breathe and smell the silence, and you may rediscover your personal displacement from your native space, your own lost time buried in busyness. The very old, small Kali temple with a tiny door, nestled beneath the tall palm tree that remained etched in her memory does not appear in the work. It’s the slow-falling palm leaves that represent her whole experience.

Leaves fall and float, while the child witness remains lost in timelessness. Then, one day, the child is lost. The child loses her idyllic time and space because she must make good use of her time and find her own space. She loses herself and rediscovers herself in the absence. Whose absence? It’s about the return to the roots, the roots living in absence.

This story is from the November 21, 2024 edition of Outlook.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.

This story is from the November 21, 2024 edition of Outlook.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.

MORE STORIES FROM OUTLOOKView All
Friendship Loveship Hateship
Outlook

Friendship Loveship Hateship

The world is presently battling a loneliness epidemic, but it’s the well-connected’ who are the loneliest. These days, they are looking to make connections at social meet-ups

time-read
7 mins  |
February 21, 2025
Scripting Loneliness
Outlook

Scripting Loneliness

With the turn of the millennium, Indian audiences got to see what actually happens when fairytale romance ends and life begins on the big screen

time-read
5 mins  |
February 21, 2025
Confined, Constricted
Outlook

Confined, Constricted

Love and loneliness co-exist in spaces where desires struggle to navigate through narrow lanes, love flounders to flourish in tiny homes and heart-to-heart conversations get muted in the cacophony of everyday drudgery

time-read
6 mins  |
February 21, 2025
Rusted Ruins
Outlook

Rusted Ruins

Archaeology trapped in jingoist trenches

time-read
5 mins  |
February 21, 2025
BJP's Delhiverance
Outlook

BJP's Delhiverance

The double engine sarkaar will have to show some quick results to Delhi's middle class which has trusted it to improve the city’s infrastructure

time-read
5 mins  |
February 21, 2025
AAP Rejected, or BJP Elected?
Outlook

AAP Rejected, or BJP Elected?

ls the electorate voting to reject rather than voting to elect?

time-read
5 mins  |
February 21, 2025
Crying in Love is to Grow in Love
Outlook

Crying in Love is to Grow in Love

To be in love is to check one's mortality and start with the quiver of optimism

time-read
6 mins  |
February 21, 2025
Half Moon
Outlook

Half Moon

Desire is not Just about the body but the entire world through the body. In fact, the world becomes the body of the absent lover

time-read
2 mins  |
February 21, 2025
Love, Actually
Outlook

Love, Actually

British novelist and scriptwriter David Nicholls is the author of six novels, including the global bestseller One Day (2009).

time-read
5 mins  |
February 21, 2025
Big City Blues
Outlook

Big City Blues

Queer people find vibrancy and welcome anonymity in megacities but there is a limit to the choices they offer

time-read
4 mins  |
February 21, 2025

We use cookies to provide and improve our services. By using our site, you consent to cookies. Learn more