2010 → Partapur Showcase
A site-specific project developed at Sandarbh Artist in Residence program in Partapur, Rajasthan, India, January 2012.
Exhibited in:
- Habitat Centre, New Delhi, 2012
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Kala Ghoda Gallery, Mumbai, 2012
- Days of Overlap, Rosenfeld Gallery, Tel Aviv 20
During a one-month stay in the village of Partapur, I transformed an empty shop into a display space, which was exposed to the public in its different making phases. The people of Partapur were asked to hand over an object of their choice to me, personal or historical artifacts out of their own personal home ‘showcases’ into the public realm. Every single one of the contributions has found a place in the ongoing developing display. The project aimed at creating a counter-ethnographic representation of village life in Partapur, which was not governed by methodological pre-selection but was formed from within as a result of public intervention. My daily encounters with the people shaped the course the exhibition took. Never have I declined an object suggested. The final collection was displayed in Delhi and Mumbai and then sent back to the people of Partapur.
2010 → Nahargarth Showcase
Site-specific project developed in collaboration with Shreyas Karle for the exhibition "Imitating Atmosphere", second edition of the Sculpture Park in Madhavendra palace, Jaipur, India, November, 2017.
Madhavendra Palace within Nahargarh Fort was built by Madho Singh II with the intention of remaining a secured and secluded private space. Yet, with the dissolution of the princely state, it has opened its gates to the wider public and is currently swept by hundreds of visitors every single day. The walls of the palace that were once guarded from the outside are now guarded from within. In response to the shift that the space has undergone, I asked the guards, who are working on site, to lend objects for the forthcoming exhibition. One by one, the guards brought various old objects, coins, puppets, cooking appliances, and saris to be displayed in showcases of the palace, objects they would be guarding for the next year. In return for the loan, they received a framed photograph of their object placed in the palace.