Important Notice

Hema Upadhyay's body of work addresses the exigencies of modern life, particularly those that inhabit the realms of gender, urbanization, dislocation, violence and loss. “Hema's work convincingly addresses issues that straddle the politics not only of gender and sexuality, of communalism and consumerism but also of self-formation in an overwhelmingly dystopic and continuously predatory urban environment” (Shilpa Phadke, Underneath, Gallery... Hema Upadhyay's body of work addresses the exigencies of modern life, particularly those that inhabit the realms of gender, urbanization, dislocation, violence and loss. “Hema's work convincingly addresses issues that straddle the politics not only of gender and sexuality, of communalism and consumerism but also of self-formation in an overwhelmingly dystopic and continuously predatory urban environment” (Shilpa Phadke, Underneath, Gallery Chemould exhibition catalogue, Mumbai, 2004, unpaginated). Having lived in Baroda, a city that was shattered by communal violence in 2002, and currently residing in Mumbai, the most populous metropolis in South Asia, all the issues that the artist raises through her works are ones that she has had to deal with personally.

In her Bleeding Hearts series, Upadhyay extends the autobiographic in her work, juxtaposing photographic cut-outs of her own image with elements of decoration. This contrast creates powerful visuals that represent the artist's reflections on violence and bereavement, particularly in the context of the pogrom-like brutality that swept the state of Gujarat in 2002. Asking how one can even begin to relate to, apologize or grieve for such genocidal events, the artist “…gives voice to a sentiment shared by many people from the majority community who felt helpless in the face of the unleashed horror and felt simultaneously implicated by their incapacity to stop it” (Ibid.).

In the present lot, Upadhyay combines dark colours and black lace patterns, evocative of mourning, with everyday images from her own life, and symbols of common activities that are usually taken for granted including smoking. Contrasting these commonplace images with the rarity of loss and grief, the artist seems to suggest that acts of violence, like those which unfolded in Gujarat a few years ago, are not unusual anymore and dangerously close to being taken for granted. Laying out this fact, Upadhyay bluntly asks her viewers to reopen their eyes to the immense difference between stubbing out a cigarette and stubbing out a life.

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