ART-PRESENTATION: Nalini Malani-Transgressions

Nalini Malani, Transgressions, 2001, video/shadow play installation, Stedelijk Museum Archive

Nalini Malani became known as a pioneer in India in the ‘80s for her attention to feminist issues, and later in the early ‘90s for her innovative theater and installation projects. Her multimedia projects feature recurring themes around the subjects of gender, memory, race, and transnational politics, especially in reference to India’s postcolonial history after independence and partition.

By Dimitris Lempesis
Photo: Stedelijk Museum Archive

For 50 years, Malani’s politically-charged oeuvre, which blends political, social and ecological issues with narratives referencing classical literature and myth, has captivated a broad spectrum of audiences. As a refugee after the Partition of India, Malani and her family experienced trauma and oppression at first hand. Malani’s work challenges discrimination, and advocates a progressive role for women in society. Nalini Malani often draws upon stories from Hindu and Greek mythology, 19th Century literary nonsense writing by such authors as Lewis Carroll and Edward Lear, and early 20th Century experimental theater to create allegories for present day events. “Transgressions” is part of the Stedelijk’s new, long-term research program of exhibitions that take a fresh look at the collection, and place it within the context of current social issues. The installation “Transgressions” (2001) from the Stedelijk Collection, is the heart of the exhibition, and the first of what Malani terms “Video/shadow play”. The combination of four slowly rotating Mylar plastic cylinders, painted using the reverse painting technique, through which video images are projected, creates an endlessly varying shadow play upon the gallery walls. The video projections begin as the shadows of the paintings drift across the skin of a Caucasian man, like tattoos brought to life, before merging with color-processed segments of Bollywood films. A cascade of words rains down on the cinematic images, a selection of texts from the apparently inexhaustible wealth of Indian languages which, under the impact of globalisation, are on the brink of extinction because they are no longer being taught. The paintings on the cylinders recall the traditional Indian Kalighat style, and depict a British big game hunter astride an elephant, the goddess Durga, two boxers, and the map of the sub-continent with Pakistan and India forever locked in combat. In the soundtrack alluding to the impact of globalisation, a female voice recites “I speak orange, I speak blue”, in a reference to the mobile phone providers dominating India. The soundtrack also features a little girl imploring her mother to send her to English school, with which Malani underlines the prevailing attitude in India that only those fluent in the English language will secure a place in the society of the future. Nalini Malani and the Curator of the exhibition have selected 25 additional works that contextualise the themes and numerous references to literary and classical sources in “Transgressions”. These works also trace the development of Malani’s multi-media practice, from the experimental films of the ‘60s and ‘70s, the video documentaries of her unconventional theatre pieces of the ‘90s, to the artist’s books produced between 1991 and 2016. Also Nalini Malani created a wall drawing at the entrance of the exhibition. The mural is a highly topical medium at present, particularly among a new generation of both Indian and Western artists, and has been central to Malani’s oeuvre since 1991. The wall drawings were the first step in the development of her later shadow installations.

Info: Curator: Margriet Schavemaker, Stedelijk Museum, Museumplein 10, Amsterdam, Duration: 18/3-18//17, Days & Hours: Mon-Thu & Sat-Sun 10:00-18:00, Fri 10:00-22:00, www.stedelijk.nl

Nalini Malani, Transgressions, 2001, video/shadow play installation, Stedelijk Museum Archive
Nalini Malani, Transgressions, 2001, video/shadow play installation, Stedelijk Museum Archive

 

 

Nalini Malani, Transgressions, 2001, video/shadow play installation, Stedelijk Museum Archive
Nalini Malani, Transgressions, 2001, video/shadow play installation, Stedelijk Museum Archive