“…I believe that one carries the shadows, the dreams, the fears and the dragons of home under one’s skin, at the extreme corners of one’s eyes and possibly in the gristle of the earlobe.”
‘The Homeland’ is solo exhibition by artist Moutushi Chakraborty at India International Centre, focusing on the idea of ‘Home’ from a feminine perspective, and how it becomes a metaphor for her existential identity. It weaves in narratives of hope, loss and human bonding around the act of construction and destruction of physical-spaces called ‘Home’.
‘Home’ maybe anything from an architectural splendor to a tattered war-bunker – a cocoon to seek respite and build dreams on. The Womb is our first home, yet, a time comes for it to be dismantled and life to be purged out into with a shriek. Migration has been an essential fact of Human history, reshaping lives irrevocably, whether forced or voluntary. In today’s burgeoning city-life assembling and dismantling of homes is a constant reality. Old residences make way for new Modernity, as new narratives wait to be woven. At the pivotal point of this transition stands the Feminine presence, and this exhibition recounts her journey and metamorphosis.
Moutushi Chakraborty, whose educational background includes Master in Fine Graphic Art and Master in Fine Art Print created the HOMELAND series by pasting collages on paper embellished with block-prints, overlapped at times with thread embroideries. There is a purposeful intention in creating visual illusion between painted and collaged forms, a signature style of the artist.
Moutushi is a Kolkata-based artist and art educator. She is alumni of Kalabhavan Santiniketan, M.S. University Baroda and Wimbledon School of Art. The artist is recipient of prestigious awards like the Commonwealth Foundation Fellowship, the Charles Wallace India Trust Award and the Lalit Kala Akademi Award.
“The Universe reflects in every atom and element a moving image, as if, reflected on countless shards. Broken mirrors multiple illusions ‘each true,’ ‘each lived’ a conundrum, as if, a parody of existences jumbled and distorted. Memories add sheen steeled or shredded not ours to choose only to be absorbed by divine fate, as if, into the Homeland where we planted our roots” -Moutushi Chakraborty
