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Lot 24

 

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Often associated with the group of painters known as 'The Baroda School', Nalini Malani belongs to a generation of women artists from India, whose practice seamlessly weaves personal narratives into history producing works, rendering them autobiographical in varying degrees. This internalized process nonetheless assimilates global discourses around the female identity, producing an oeuvre both personal yet collective. Working in varied genres,... Often associated with the group of painters known as 'The Baroda School', Nalini Malani belongs to a generation of women artists from India, whose practice seamlessly weaves personal narratives into history producing works, rendering them autobiographical in varying degrees. This internalized process nonetheless assimilates global discourses around the female identity, producing an oeuvre both personal yet collective. Working in varied genres, which include painting, installation and video, Malani's nuanced use of various media to articulate her stories is evidence of the depth of her practice and discourse.

Malani's distinguished oeuvre has been concerned with unpacking and reflecting on Western as well as Indian histories of violence and oppression, and her humanist paintings are committed to opening up 'a place for people'. Malani uses her art to draw attention to 'other' stories, with a focus on the universal and human aspects of conflict. In addition, her work is deeply committed to raising a political consciousness of women's particular social experiences of vulnerability and oppression. The artist's charged human forms constantly refer to various aspects of a woman's experience within a larger relationship network.

The present lot draws from Malani's long held engagement with Heiner Müller's play Despoiled Shore Medea - Material Landscape with Argonauts, which began in 1992 and has been frequently revisited by the artist. The original play reappropriates the personae of Medea from Greek mythology. Medea is known in most stories as an enchantress and is often depicted as being a priestess. Different stories render her in different lights, giving her character a malleability that has beckoned the imagination of many over the ages. In his story about an ancient Greek sorceress, Müller employs associations between people, events and places from all over the world and all over history to defragment and reconstruct the personage of Medea in the play's three sections. Malani has utilized the fluidity and freedom offered by Müller's 20th century rendition to intersperse within the many versions of Medea her multiple discourses. She utilizes the persona of the Greek heroine to address the complexities of Indian society and the female identity. The scattered figures rendered with bleeding colors tell many tales - evoking both anxiety and curiosity.

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