Rising contemporary artists Aban Raza, Amol K. Patil, Prabhakar Kamble and Siddhesh Gautam discuss the importance of magnifying marginalised voices in art, society and art history in a conversation moderated by professor Dr. Parul Dave Mukherji.
Prabhakar Kamble: Prabhakar Kamble is an artist, curator and cultural activist who works with the notions of Equality in his practice dealing with social realities stemming from existential conditionings and Ambedkarite consciousness. He curated ‘ Open Mind’, a retrospective exhibition at the National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai, in 2021. He has shown at Berlin Biennale, Bamako Encounters – African biennale of photography. He is also the convenor of the Secular Art Movement.
Siddhesh Gautam: Siddhesh Gautam is a Delhi based multi-discipline, mixed-media artist, designer, treasure hunter, soul searcher and an Ambedkarite. His work is meant to challenge your preconceptions, expand your mind, honour the sacred, and evoke feelings of agitation, exploration, and deeper connection with the self. He has been practising as a visual designer, artist, storyteller and educator and is currently working on a graphic novel on Buddhism in India. His work is focussed on the visual documentation of India’s anti-caste movement.
Aban Raza: Artist Aban Raza held her first solo exhibition, Luggage, People and a little space, at Galerie Mirchandani + Steinruecke in Mumbai in 2020. Her works have been shown at Terrain.art, the Lalit Kala Akademi, and Art Heritage. Her curated experience includes Celebrate. Illuminate. Rejuvenate. Defend the Constitution at 70 [2020], India is not lost [2021]. She received HRD Junior Fellowship [2018-2020]; the AIFACS Award (2014)the Somnath Hore Award (2013).
Amol K. Patil: Amol K. Patil is a conceptual and performance artist. He has shown his work across the globe, most recently in Paris, Helsinki, Lagos, and Glasgow. Patil considers his practice an ever-reaching attempt to recapture the vibrating surroundings of his memory of chawls. ‘Chawl’ is a form of five-story social housing for mill and factory workers built in the early 1900s in Mumbai.
Dr. Parul Dave Mukherji: Dr. Parul Dave Mukherji is a Professor at School of Arts and Aesthetics, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India. She has taught at the M. S. University, Baroda, and her books include InFlux: Contemporary Art in Asia (co-edited), Arts and Aesthetics in a Globalizing World, co-edited with Ramindar Kaur, and Ebrahim Alkazi Directing Art: The Making of a Modern Indian Art World (edited).
Titled ‘Align & Disrupt’, the talks programme curated by independent curator and educator Shaleen Wadhwana, and supported by Shiv Nadar – Institution Of Eminence, aims to align voices of leading artists and arts professionals on critical issues in the arts ecosystem, and collectively disrupt the status quo to shape a more aware and inclusive art world of the future. For the first time, the key learnings and insights from these talks will be documented in an action-plan which will be widely circulated and made accessible to the public on the India Art Fair website. All talks will be conducted in Indian Sign Language.