For the love of Khirkee

Five young and talented artists are part of ‘Peers 2016’, an annual residency programme hosted by Khoj International Artists’ Association. The artworks created during a month-long residency will be exhibited at Khoj Studios, from June 16 to June 20. The critic-in-residence for ‘Peers 2016’ is Satyajit Dave from Maharaja Sayajirao University, Baroda.

Promona Sengupta, curator at Khoj said, “This year is the 13th edition of Peers. It is a unique 

residency model, closely curated for recent graduates starting their professional careers. We aim to provide infrastructure, inspiration and mentorship to emerging artists and art practicers.”

Anuradha Upadhyay, an MFA in Fine Arts from Maharaja Sayajirao University, speaks about creating work that consistently  references the socio-politics of the contemporary times and deeply engages with her own subjectivity as a woman and feminist politics within the society. Upadhyay is dealing with what she calls “the gaze”. She is painting mask-like faces on small sculptural objects that will be displayed as part of her other drawings and writings.

Smita Rajmane, an MFA from Shiv Nadar University, is equally articulate about dealing with issues of “being the outsider”. Incidents in Dadri (where she has now been living for two years) and JNU inspire the major themes of her work which are surveillance, the gaze, and voyeurism. “There are boundaries all around us, in family and in society,” she says. She has chosen to focus on the Khirkee mosque area and the used threads to measure boundaries of nearly 60 houses in and around the dilapidated site. Manojit Samanta admits being “confounded” by the place. His visual repertoire borrows heavily from his work as a cartoonist at an illustration firm in Kolkata. For ‘Peers 2016’, he exhibits a three-dimensional jigsaw like puzzle of cardboard cut-outs that depict the chaotic, unruly life of Khirkee Extension.

Johnson Kshetrimayum from Manipur and completed his M.V.A from Maharaja Sayajirao University Vadodara in 2016. On racial discrimination, he talks about incidents of abuse and torment he faced as a student. “We were called everything from a chinky to chowmein and many times were slapped and beaten up.” 

Arijit Bhattacharyya deals with migration and contemporary urbanism. He has created a leatherite bag that transforms itself into a superhero rubber suit which can be worn during fires. “I noticed that while there is a lot of economic development in Khirkee and so much construction going on, but it’s also a huge safety hazard. Since I want my art to be functional, I have designed this suit which can be worn as protective gear.”