FRIN/GE

Vadehra Art Gallery presents FRIN/GE, a group show curated by Shaleen Wadhwana, an independent arts educator and cultural heritage professional, whose curatorial practice explores meta-narratives in global history and artistic responses to contemporary social issues. Featuring a total of 25 artworks across a wide range of all-encompassing media, from paintings, textile, programming code and data, to photographs and videos, by artists Afrah Shafiq, Ruby Chishti, Anju Dodiya, Atul Dodiya, Sharbendu De, Renuka Rajiv and Avril Stormy Unger, Juul Kraijer, Ashim Purkayastha and Mithu Sen, FRIN/GE was conceived as a space in which to unpack the ideas and feelings that govern norms, behaviours and actions leading to the creation of an exclusion or periphery, which serve as foundational undercurrents for contemporary realities.

For Wadhwana, the formation of a fringe begins with a marginalised idea—a discomfiting feeling underneath a normative structure that supports systems, which keep something or someone ‘out’ whilst allowing another ‘in’. This fringe is supplemented with a history of decisions made to appease, exclude, prosecute, nominally include, dismiss, or completely abandon. In evaluating the protagonists of the mainstream, and the structures that uphold the mainstream as such, Wadhwana is interested in exploring the unnerving fissures of cultural conversation in places where such conversations are rarely held.

‘Whose stories are not being recorded in history? Who is not at the table? What ideas are we unwilling to accept? It is necessary to reflect if you and I are part of the invisible architecture that creates this “fringe”. This premise is represented by the slash “/” delineating the majority alphabets F, R, I, N from G, E, allowing us to think about where we would occupy a position, and what we are willing to do about it,’ says Wadhwana, as she invites viewers to choose their own entry points vis aÌ€ vis these contemporary art practices to learn and reflect on their potential oblivious involvement in the creation and perpetuation of the fringes.

Ruby Chishti: We were in this together

‘An already challenging question became even more nuanced as we witnessed the spread of COVID-19. The artistic dialogue and the impetus of my curatorial concept widened to incorporate the developing realities of 2020 as the world rearticulates its responses to this ongoing global pandemic,’ adds Wadhwana.

In the show, Chishti highlights the disparate impact of the pandemic in the USA, which is coupled with Rajiv and Unger’s documentation of a changing Bangalore in India. They mirror the same concern – that receiving healthcare is not an equal human right. Shafiq uses custom code to create a simulated Marian figure that is multiple and diverse, allowing for various narratives to coexist, while Sen builds a lasting relationship with the viewer through her never-ending QR code artwork. These are in tandem with intrapersonal ecosystems depicted through Purkayastha’s recognition that inner demons are common to us all and the inward, self-explorative journey by Anju Dodiya is crucial in understanding the unseen, unknown parts of ourselves. In trying to contextualise the marginalised ‘other’, Atul Dodiya showcases the historical imprints of social discrimination against the Indian Muslim identity, as does De through his meditative homage to the Lisu tribal identity. The final contemplation is through Kraijer’s melodious intersection of nature and humanity, wondering: who is this world being built for?

While the show is on view at the gallery, the team is undertaking strict health, sanitization and social distancing measures to ensure the safety of the visitors, they're happy to be able to make engaging with the show a virtual possibility as well. To do so, they're embracing a new immersive 3D digital technology experience via Matterport on our website, which offers a multi-dimensional mapping of the show.

ABOUT THE CURATOR
SHALEEN WADHWANA is an independent arts educator and cultural heritage professional. Her curatorial practise explores meta-narratives in global history and artistic responses to contemporary social issues, reflected in her current show FRIN/GE at Vadehra Art Gallery, Delhi. She has curated OSMOSIS, a 3 artist show at TARQ Gallery, Mumbai (2019) and co-designed India's first virtual artist residency Fissure with the Pollinator Interdisciplinary Lab (ongoing). As a Visiting Faculty at MIT Institute of Design, Pune, she teaches Big History and Design Futures and is the Humanities curriculum designer for their Innovation Programme. She has worked with cultural institutions like the British Museum, London, National Museum, Delhi and Chemould Prescott Road Gallery, Mumbai. She is academically trained in Art History (SOAS, London), Cultural Heritage Law (University of Geneva-UNESCO), Liberal Arts (Young India Fellowship, Ashoka University) and History (Lady Shri Ram College, Delhi University). Recently, her research has been showcased at the Art and Antiquities Conference, Mumbai and in the India Perspectives Journal of the Ministry of External Affairs, India.

THE SHOW
27 November 2020 – 15 January 2021
Monday – Saturday| 10.30 a.m. – 6.30 p.m.
D-53 Defence Colony, New Delhi, 110024