Appropriation Disinformation - Nature and the Body Politic

Appropriation Disinformation - Nature and the Body Politic , 2019, detail Collage on found paper 19.29 x 24.7 inches

Appropriation Disinformation - Nature and the Body Politic

The team at TARQ is delighted to present Apnavi Makanji’s Appropriation Disinformation - Nature and the Body Politic for the first time in India. Initially exhibited at this year’s Dhaka Art Summit, entitled 'Seismic Movements' curated by Diana Campbell Betancourt, the materials for the work were sourced from the Atlas International Larousse Politique et Economique(1950). These pages making up Makanji’s collages are records of the treasures of the globe as represented through the eyes of the imperial powers in their quest for progress and the modern condition. In fact, these pages of statistics are effectively lists of extractivism. They remain silent on violence inflicted on the environment, on modern-day slavery and on the displacement of indigenous communities. The artist has chosen to look at them instead as tools of capitalism and proof of systematic violence. These collages are not only a representation of what has been forgotten, buried or annihilated, they also stand in for a subconscious that is mutant and diseased. In its soft sensuality and secretions, the work attempts to trigger a visceral memory of a situated environment that existed before it was reduced to highly mobile commodities. Makanji works with the media of installation, drawing, and film, producing complex constructs informed by botany, memory, displacement and environmental urgency. They are interested in exploring the intersection of these concepts within the context of the human engendered climate emergency.

This text has been reproduced in part from the catalogue of Seismic Movements – the catalogue of  the 2020 Dhaka Art Summit.

Appropriation Disinformation - Nature and the Body Politic Appropriation Disinformation - Nature and the Body Politic , 2019 Collage on found paper 19.29 x 24.7 inches

Appropriation Disinformation - Nature and the Body Politic , 2019 Collage on found paper 19.29 x 24.7 inches

ABOUT THE ARTIST
Apnavi Makanji's (b. 1976) body of work spans the mediums of drawing, installation and video. Their preoccupations center around ecology with an emphasis on botany, explorations of memory and the idea of home. The interaction of this synthesis with the construct of urban spaces and the socio-economic structure of our times, lies at the core of their work. Their latest solo show was Soil as Witness | Memory as Wound, TARQ, Bombay, 2019. Their other solo shows include Travails of the Wandering Memory Seed, Galerie Félix Frachon, Brussels, 2016, Domus Vulgus, Art Asia Miami (with support from The Guild NY) Miami 2010; Domus Vulgus, The Guild NY, New York 2010. Makanji recently participated in the Dhaka Art Summit (February 2020). They have taken part in several group shows including Narrow Road to the Interior, Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi, 2019; Remembering the Present, Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi, 2018; Carnets, Halle Nord, Geneva, 2017; Raving Disco Dolly on a Rock ‘n’ Roll Trolley, Envoy Enterprises, New York, 2014; Considering Collage, Jhaveri Contemporary, Bombay, 2013. Makanji lives and works in Geneva.

Appropriation Disinformation - Nature and the Body Politic Appropriation Disinformation - Nature and the Body Politic , 2019, detail Collage on found paper 19.29 x 12.9 inches

Appropriation Disinformation - Nature and the Body Politic , 2019, detail Collage on found paper 19.29 x 12.9 inches

Image Courtesy: Apnavi Makanji and TARQ
Copyright: Copyright Apnavi Makanji , 2019