A group exhibition featuring eleven female painters is currently taking place at Gurugram’s Bharat Art Space Gallery. This exhibition is curated by acclaimed art critic Johny ML. The show’s title is ‘A Frame of one’s own’. But why does Johny ML prefer to be termed an arranger rather than a curator? And how does this come over in his article for the show catalogue…
Johny ML
A room of one’s own is a familiar phrase In 1929. Virginia Woolf, the famous British feminist writer and thinker coined this phrase for her essays. Which were first delivered as academic lectures. The room in her discourse was not just a room but it was the space that had been denied to women in her times as well as in history. Things have changed a Lot for women after a century since Woolf s articulation about socio-cultural and politico-economic spaces denied to women. Today there are global leaders from among women in all the professions including politics and economics
However. in the field of art women are still a minority. In a developing country like India. where female participation and representation in the law-making institutions is still scant despite the claims of one third female representation assured to them. Linda Nochlin, the American art historian had raised this issue. ‘Why have there been no great women artists?’ She was addressing the issue of next to nil presence of female artists in museums and art history. Shamed by such vehement questioning by feminist thinkers and art historians. we have been making space for women artists in the recent years. It is not enough.
Contemporary Indian art scene has many women artists to flaunt before the world. Some Of them have even surpassed their male counterparts both in fame and fortune. Growth index of any country can show ten to twenty or more billionaires but that cannot be translated into the general economic well-being of a country Similarly having a few famous and wealthy women artists does not mean that we are doing a fair deal with the women artists in our country.
Curators are those art professionals Who are supposed to find out the talented women artists and present them for a Wider public. Today curators are a plenty but they work for the market’s demands. In some cases, they are so undiscerning that they put together mish-mash art works. The elite curators deal with only those women artists Who are already been supported and made successful by the mainstream galleries. Desperate for recognition and success most of the women artists fall prey to the vileness of the organisers only to end up in highly discreditable exhibitions.
I have derived the title of this exhibition. ‘A Frame of One’s Own’ from Virginia Woolf’s title of her widely discussed essay that debated the ‘room’ of/ for women The word frame’ in this exhibition stands both for the painterly frame that these women artists use to contain their works and for the ‘perspective’ that they have about their works. Each woman artist in this show has her own perspective about the world in general and creative works in particular. All Of them have conducted and participated in solo and group exhibitions using their resources and networks. As the ‘arranger’ Of the show I have been working with most of them on a regular basis. at times as a mentor and other times as a consultant
Why arranged, not curated may ask to have an all women show was contemplated in early February and thought of presenting it on 8th March, the International Women’s Day. For unexpected developments on the career front I couldn’t proceed with it. Later I thought of reviving the idea of an all women show but enough time was not there to make studio visits, discussions and other stuff related to a curated show.
However. the selection of artists in this exhibition is thoughtfully deliberated. I have been looking at the works of each Of these participants for a Long time. I have witnessed Aarrti Zaveri’s growth from a portrait painter to a conceptual artist. At times I have played a midwife’s role in some of her projects. Her interest in non-representative art has taken various directions and the works presented here underline her interest in spatial dimensions.
The evolution of images in Sangeeta Singh’s works has been witnessed by me during the last twelve years. I have even made an amateur interview with her in 2012 Which is available on YouTube. From a figurative artist with a strong sense of form, she has now moved towards more abstracted forms where she could hide latent figures that connote her personal experiences regarding loss, pleasure, Love and land.
I have been Looking at Sabia’s works for the Last twenty-five years and have seen her gaining foothold in the art scene with her personalised imageries which had been once Conde censed by people as derivatives. Today Sabia stands tall with her works. Her female protagonists appear Like ordinary women but with a sense of individuality connecting themselves to nature and culture alike.
My curatorial journey has close links With Shelly Jyoti‘s development as a textile designer to a world renowned artist who uses traditional ajrak printing technique to create her works often pitching on the Gandhian ideas. Moving from the idea of Swa-rajva, one’s own nationhood to Swa-dharma. one’s own moral responsibility. Shelly Jyoti gives visual symbolism to these concepts.
When I met Neerja Chandna Peters a few years back I was curious about the conversion of a medical doctor eschewing her successful profession for a Book-less religion called art. Since then I have been following her geometry based optical abstractions executed in pleasant colours. Neerja has taken her religion so fanatically and fantastically that it brings forth love and peace.
Shabana Oadri has been showing her works to me for the Last two years and when she exhibited her works in a public gallery in Delhi I could see her canvases upclose. They are vibrant, pleasant and at the same time based on personal impressions. She alters the impacts that the physical surroundings generate to colour-codes in various pitches.
I met Ginni Singh and Shibani Sehgal last year and I found something similar in both of them: perhaps what I found in them was common to all those women artists Who couldn’t continue with their practice due to their familial duties as women. Most Of them. on not pursuing the professional art path and facing its trials and tribulations, pangs and sufferings, suffer internally as they too are aspirational beings. Ginni Singh has come back to her creative life with a vengeance by working on moderate and large-scale abstract paintings. Shibani Sehgal has moved from her small-scale works to medium-scale works in an effort to realize romantic nature-stapes.
Many leave art altogether, some pick up the lost threads, with or without success. A fifteen year long investment in domestic front may bring different dividents but soul satisfaction lies elsewhere for them. Ginni and Shibani came back, like many others do, I should say with a lot of desire to become professional artists. I have been Looking at their works and they have improved tremendously. They need a chance. Yes. many others also deserve it. But let me start with them.
Indu Tripathy and Babita B Patra are not new to the professional art scene. They have been pursuing their art diligently with the skill and image sets that they have grown comfortable with over a period of time. What I see in Babita, as have visited her studio a few times, is her patience and ability to use the living cum studio space alternatively with her artist husband Such sacrifices may’ go unnoticed but to state it here by me may make women artists think about their complaints regarding the lack of studios spaces. Both Indu Tripathy and Babita create female protagonists in various avatars, at times attributing them with godly features.
Last but not the least. I have been following the works of Ukraine born and Paris based Lesya Bilenko for the Last few years though I got a chance to meet her in person recently only. She is hugely gifted and could handle any large space with her creative interventions. The war that forced her out of her country has affected her but she doesn’t show it in her works. It’s an introduction to Lesya Bilenko in Indian art scene through this project.
Now answering the question Why I don’t call myself a curator of this show but an arranger. I would say that there are many Who call themselves curators even when they see the works of art only when displayed on the gallery walls have witnessed such occasions when the curator tells the artist, oh I thought your works were huge. They look very miniaturish in real!
They should call themselves arrangers. But they claim curatorship. Here, I am reversing that role call myself an arranger of this show. The artists in this show perhaps think that I should have called myself a curator which they could take pride in. But with due apologies to them, here I am trying to make a historical correction in the curatorial practice.
I am not bothered about the outcome of such a role reversal. Doing it differently is always better than blending it the way Others do. Wish all these eleven artists a great future and great artistic journey in the coming days.