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Malavika Rajnarayan’s recent works, A Song in Asides, are a series of postcard-sized watercolours that have emerged from her travel and lived experiences. Each work translates into a line of poetry on paper and spills into larger, interconnected narratives that are stitched together by strokes of kantha embroidery. The works come together as surreal snippets, mirroring the reality of a dream. Characters find themselves arrested in solitude, distinct from loneliness, conjuring an introspective gaze in the light that seeps through the jaalis. The figures, as though detached from the puppetry at the hands of the artist, are caught in media res, in a free fall, perhaps moving towards another story.
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MALAVIKA RAJNARAYAN, A SONG IN ASIDES- XII, 2021
A Song in Asides
“Somewhat safe, partially exposed,
We oscillate
Between peaks and lows
On balconies, terraces and
Strange spaces in between.
We sit still while everything around us
Moves past.
A thought escapes into the landscape
Only to be stitched
Into the patchwork of emerging epics.
Here we are
Between how we were and how we will be
Doing, living, breathing and interacting
We stand with this space between us -
Walking, talking, moving jaalis
Changing every pattern that we cast.”
- Malavika Rajnarayan
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MALAVIKA RAJNARAYAN, A SONG IN ASIDES- III, 2021
Owing to their portability, each work uses a distinct inspiration but is held together by common experiences of existence. Like a side song, the works started in self-reflection and over time have developed music of their own to appreciate and acknowledge the essence of routine. A subtle enquiry furthers into the ecological realities and psychological quiddities that are woven into these scapes. In the ever-changing setting, Malavika embraces the qualities of small things- gestures, words, qualities and love- often unseen and ignored, that make this world habitable.
Text @ Chhavi Jain
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About the artist
Malavika Rajnarayan (b. 1982, Bangalore, India) completed her B.F.A in painting from Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath in 2003, and her post-graduation in painting from Faculty of Fine Arts, M.S. University of Baroda in 2006. She is an artist, art educator and writer. Her solo exhibition, When Dragonflies Cross the Highway Bridge was presented by Anant Art gallery at IGNCA, New Delhi in 2018. Some of her recent group participations with Anant Art Gallery include, Malhar: A lyrical exposition, curated by Chhavi Jain (Online, 2020), Soliloquies (Online, 2020); When the Caged Bird Sings in collaboration with Apparao Gallery at The Lodhi, New Delhi (2018), India Art Fair (2020, 2018 and 2017), Baroda March, Rukshaan Art at Kumaraswamy Hall, Chhatrapati Shivaji Vastu Sangrahalay, Mumbai (2017 and 2016). She has been a recipient of fellowships and awards like, the Azim Premji Fellowship (2017-19), Inlaks: Take on Writing Travel Grant for Young Critics (2016), Nasreen Mohammedi scholarship for postgraduate study (2005) and the Promising Young Artist award by the Fundacao Orient, Goa (2003).
Malavika has presented lectures at EWHA University in Seoul, South Korea, College of Fine Arts, Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath and conducted short workshops at NID, Ahmedabad and at non-profit organisations for women and children. She was an artist-in-residence at The Collective Studio, Baroda; The Contemporary Artists Centre, Troy, New York; CAMAC Centre for Art in Marnay sur-Seine, France; and a collective residency as a member of Surfatial at ZK/U, Berlin. Her background in Indian classical music as well as her interest in the progression of Indian and Asian knowledge traditions form the basis of her inquiries. Her visual language is informed by miniature painting traditions, where the poignancy of ideas are conveyed through beauty, grace and poetry. She is currently based in Vadodara, Gujarat.
A Song in Asides: Recent works by Malavika Rajnarayan
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