Vow anomalies
During the wedding season, if one were to drive towards the outskirts of any city, one can view the entire panorama of architectural marvels of Europe and royal India. The dome of St Paul jostles with that of Umaid Bhavan, the tower of London is simulated along with palazzo along the Grand Canal.
These are all sites where ‘delusions of grandeur’ are played out by the socially mobile middle classes, whose agenda of aspirational aggrandisement can be seen in these marriage pandals. These sites of conspicuous consumption and a weird world of material and patriarchal licentiousness have attracted the attention of many artists and writers.
In the latest show The Anatomy of Celebration or The Party Plot at Latitude 28, Vasudha Thozur excavates the many lives of such a site that undergoes a metamorphosis from agrarian land to being a party plot to a residential construction site through her multimedia works.
Many of the works are photographs of the psychedelic play of bright neon lights on the shamianas, giving them a mirage like distant quality: distant from the participant, and yet near enough to experience the extravaganza of the performance being played out at the venue. One can almost hear the noise — music that blares through the public address systems, popular Bollywood number-folk melodies interpreted through the local ‘DJ’ and maybe a drummer too to add to the festivities.
In her panoramic works one notices a sinister, dark undertone that nestles beneath overt carousing as can be seen in the photograph of a gored bloody body lying on a sea of bleached bones. Row upon row of empty chairs await new guests to witness the drama of the wedding, and through it the narrative of desire, ambition, aspiration and repression. In fact,sexuality and the discourse of dominant masculinity is emphasised through posters of a virile male figure dressed only in underpants in these works.
— Dr Seema Bawa is an art historian, curator and critic
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