Atul Bhalla (Artist)
Smoked Hills and Drenched Homes
Atul Bhalla
Immersion is a hallmark of my practice, metaphorically and literally. By ‘immersing’ myself in water at specially-selected sites, I engage the physical, historical, political environment, posing questions about life and sustainability through a corpo-aesthetic experience leading to performative interventions that weave texts, images, videos, sculptures. My Participatory stance of placing questions in the public domain (take away texts, bumper stickers, and hoardings) testifies to an artistic journey that has used water to delve into the depths of human consciousness in search of truth, justice, dignity, purpose and reconciliation. In several representations of dystopia, I have used ‘burning’ (literal, acidic or metaphorical ) – at times together with water – to signal as defeat but also cognizance of the self, the other, and rejuvenation. My practices’ physical terrains consist of waterscapes and their mythological presences encompassing global cities (such as Delhi, Hamburg, Shanghai, Patna, Varanasi, Milan, and Johannesburg), semi-urban areas and their river banks (such as the Ganges, Yamuna, the Elbe, and the Yangtze), Estuaries and ancient harbours ( Khambhat, Pulicat ). The resulting body of works include- I was not waving but drowning (2005), Listener from West Heavens (2010), The Wake (2013), You always step into the same river (2014), On the edge of the sea (2018), The waters will remember (2019). ‘Seeing Fires’ has captured my attention for the possibility of mobilising the above tropes towards the exploration of larger questions that have already emerged through my practice. In particular, my research and art works have shown the challenges posited by human efforts to control water, rivers and lakes through the construction of dams and canals in the pursuit of ideas of progress. Together with climate change, the above interventions’ ills are before us. Our desire to control forests where fires may occur naturally, to keep them ‘pristine’ and destined for our romantic consumption fall within the same rubric. Wildfires and river flooding occur naturally: their denial contributes towards the construction of a 'utopian vision' for the ecosystem where rains happen without floods, monsoons without cloudbursts, forests without natural fires. In the proposed project, I combine fire and water to explore human interventions to curb natural phenomena and arrest fundamental rejuvenation processes within the ecosystem. Fire and water are understood within the context of Hindu cosmology, that is as part of the five essential elements that include earth, air and space. The selected site/s for my interventions is India’s West Himalayan region where I am already exploring the effects of recent flash-floods and cloudbursts. Since colonial times, monoculture reforestation in this region has resulted in an increase in the number of forest fires leading to the Himalayan cedars (Cedrus deodara) becoming endangered along with a number of other flora and fauna. Chipko, the world-renowned environmental movement, originated here. A partnership with scientists will be crucial in the investigation and representation of the combined effects of the above phenomena and the bio-moral ecosystems, 'immersed' in excesses of water and fire.
#Immersion #Burn #CorpoAesthetic #Defeat #Rejuvenation
All images: Courtesy Atul Bhalla
Atul Bhalla is an internationally exhibited artist and Professor of Visual Art at Shiv Nadar University, NCR, India. Bhalla has explored water’s physical, historical, and political significance in the urban and non-urban environments of several global cities and regions across the world. His artworks incorporate sculpture, painting, installation, video, photography, and performance. Bhalla’s recent engagements include a project on the temple city of Hampi commissioned by the Art India Magazine (2021), the position of Virtual Artist in Residence at Cornell University (2020) and Mellon Artist Research Africa Fellow at Witwatersrand University (2018). His work was exhibited at the Harvard Art Museums (2010 & 2018), the FotoFest Biennale Houston (2016 & 2018), the 1st Kuala Lumpur Biennale (2017), Europalia, Liège (2013), the Pompidou Centre (2011), and solo shows at SepiaEYE, New York, and Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi. His work is part of the Harvard Art Museums and the Smithsonian collections.