Identity, history, myths, poverty, culture: these are just some of the issues one is left pondering upon after visiting the Saatchi Gallery’s latest exhibition The Empire Strikes Back. The avid use of colour, the level of detail, the uses of traditional techniques and materials and more importantly, the struggles faced by modern India today are clearly evident throughout the show as a whole.
Jitish Kallat
Jitish Kallat's submissions in this collection are very strong. Public Notice is particularly striking, each letter is shaped like a bone, and laid out across a bright sunshine yellow wall are the words of Mahatma Gandhi, calling for civil disobedience whilst maintaining ‘total peace’ and ‘absolute non-violence’.
His other works, Untitled (Eclipse 3) and Untitled (Eclipse 5) are somehow reminiscent of old Bollywood posters, tangy bright colours in contrast with sombre greys and black, albeit his ‘posters’ carry more poignant messages of slums and poverty, a story that the laughing children depicted may know all too well. His Death of Distance holographic perspectives ring true of the same message, good with bad, what appears beautiful can also be tinged with sadness.
Bharti Kher
The level of detail on An Absence of Assignable Cause through the use of different coloured bindis is amazing. Thousands of tiny circular dots adorning this huge fibreglass heart somehow make the sculpture more alive, as it resembles lichen or moss growing on tree or living organism.
Sakshi Gupta
In contrast, Sakshi Gupta’s Untitled (Xerox Machine) a stripped down bare metal Xerox machine frame gently whirring away in the corner, hints of India’s booming scrap metal industry and the negative challenges those involved face on a daily basis.
Rashid Rana
Evidently each piece has a story, each artist is showing viewers their experiences of their motherland, be that through the comic book-esque panels of Chitra Ganesh, or the soft dreamy strokes of T Venkanna. Rashid Rana’s Veil Series I, II & III uses images of women in the pornographic industry to create much larger pictures of women wearing burqas, which challenges perceptions of what is seen controversial, and makes it especially interesting as Rana has very cleverly veiled both.
Yet despite the very different styles of each artist, the works successfully managed to convey collectively, a resounding need to be seen and heard as a major player in the world. Each piece was a strong voice, different tones and timbres, all speaking out and standing up and wanting to be accounted for, showing what India has to offer.
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