DILLI DILWALON KI
Ashim Purkayastha
Anant Art Gallery, 2006
Catalogue Essay: Anshuman Dasgupta
As we said before, these works do not settle for a singularity. They vex the question of singularity with contrary pulls, and the trousers, which are likely derivatives of the billboards, may only fit within this series if accepted in similar terms and their limits.
Thus, the displays seem alluring (one may as well remember the association of black and white with photography of the past and documentaries in general). There is a fallacy in this transaction; meaning is offered on a surface d a canvas (cloth) of a pair of jeans trousers turned inside out- cloth upon cloth. They are simulacra of presences. They are to vanish like an inside-out object vanishes. This ephemera is dedicated to me city- the offer of meanings and presences and the deferrals, that the criticality of an author/ artist engages in and questions.
Thus a migrant privileging himself over the meaning (and hermeneutics) can now stave off a concrete inference. For identity is a question which we can offer for scrutiny in a globalizing world, but rarely stand by completely. This is, according to me, a site for contestation over selfhood today.
(excerpt from the catalogue essay ‘Traces Upon the City‘ by Anshuman Dasgupta)