In The Light Of

Starting the year on a strong note, Vadodara-based Gallery Ark recently opened a group exhibition titled In The Light Of, curated by Mumbai-based curator and writer, Gitanjali Dang, who is also the founder of the internationally known arts lab Khanabadosh. The exhibition carries a line-up of 26 artists, across mediums and experiences. The complete list of exhibiting artists: Vidha Saumya, Varun Desai, Udita Bhargava, Teja Gavankar, Sanjiv Shah, Rohit Gupta, Rehaan Engineer, Ratna Gupta, Ranjit Kandalgaonkar, Raqs Media Collective, Priyanka D'Souza, Prajakta Potnis, Piyush Thakkar, Niyati Upadhya, Nathalal Gohil, Nasreen Mohamedi, Madhu Ramnath, Kush Badhwar, Justin Ponmany, Joyraj Bhattacharya, Janaki Lenin, Himali Singh Soin with David Soin Tappeser, Gulammohammed Sheikh, Gauri Gill, Ajay Sarvaiya and  Abhishek Hazra.

The curatorial premise of In The Light Of draws its inspiration from a story around two photographic images, taken by artist friends Nasreen Mohamedi and Gulammohammed  Sheikh, during a visit to Fatehpur Sikri in the summer of 1970. In the note accompanying the exhibition, the curator recounts how her initial fleeting encounter with the photographs resulted in a series of misremembrances, that were quite removed from what had actually happened five decades ago. The story of the images, as remembered by Sheikh, and the confabulation, courtesy of the curator, form the seed of this show. Time, meaning, perception, history, memory, friendship, and the phenomenon of happenstance are some of the key conceptual touchpoints of this exhibition.

The process of bringing his exhibition to life began back in July 2019. The show was originally scheduled to open in July 2020, but with the lockdown enforced, this was no longer a possibility. The experience of bringing together an exhibition of this scale in the midst of pandemic was a unique one. While distancing was, and still is the norm, the process of putting together the exhibition became one of intimacy and coming together - of exchanging notes on the artworks and life as it was unfolding.

The exhibition presents certain artworks that have taken on  particular significance at this time, such as artist Ranjit Kandalgaonkar, who’s installation explores the history of pandemics - images from the Spanish flu of 1918 are a part of this work - and ideas around mortality. Coordinated over Zoom calls across time zones and with artworks coming in from all over, the exhibition has adapted itself  to reflect a new and complex reality. The curator Gitanjali Dang adds, “The circumstances of last year  undoubtedly shaped our thinking of ideas that we had already been trying to unpack through this show. It has been wonderful to be able to bring this range of work and artistic practices into the fold of the show. The process of putting together this exhibition has been an incredible experience in trust. It is not only  a  triumph of a collaborative imagination, but an  expansion of it as well.”

The Happenings
In The Light Of comprises a series of Happenings - experiences with filmmakers, writers and musicians, among others, that have been curated as an extension of the show.  With a show that premises itself as a musing on the movement of time, meaning, perception, history, memory and the phenomenon of happenstance, the reach of the Happenings transcends the idea of a "collateral event", they are instead, artworks in the form of events. The Happenings will start during the course of the show and carry on till 30 June, beyond the timeframe of the gallery  exhibition. 

Date 03-02-2021