Umbartha is dialogue between two spaces, says Monali Meher in Pune
The Marathi word umbartha, means ‘the doorstep or threshold’, has multiple metaphorical meanings, including home, journey, crossovers, change, time, and memory. Pune-born artist Monali Meher has put up a solo exhibition of her artwork at the Vida Hyedari Contemporary Art Gallery in Koregaon Park.
The exhibition at VHC starts with her works from the early 2000s, when she had just left India, and to 2017, when she had made both India and Belgium her homes. Meher, who now resides in Ghent has displayed work in public venues and galleries all over India. Umbartha is an exploration of ephemeral ideas of the threshold. This is the first time she is exhibiting in Pune.
Upon entering the exhibition at VHC, red Wrapped Bows (2015) stretch the viewer’s eyes to peel heights and nooks of space that may otherwise go unnoticed. The crimson thread is a primal root that links Meher’s Umbarthas across time. It has been her companion while she has experimented with performance, photography, drawing, sculpture, and installation.
In addition to wrapping and covering items completely to give them a second (perhaps protective) skin to appear mysterious and retain their original essence of being, Meher uses crimson wool to comment on the world’s condition of tragedy in war and nature. The identity of these objects is transported into the artist’s own experiments with self-recognition and identity, which bring with them the cities and nations that Meher has lived in over the years. These objects are layered with memory, place, and time. The artist’s life challenges, sense of duty, relationships, emotion, transformation, and hope are figuratively represented through the body and self-portraits. In Hunt Hope (2013), the artist uses fabric and costume as well as camouflage, red embroidery, and thread to link the veil and pose questions about identity in politics and conflict.
Speaking about her art work, Manali shares, ““In 1998, I performed ’Reflect: A personal window display’, with the statement, ‘Nothing is permanent and it’s nature’s law’. The performance had no beginning or end, conceptualising ideas within the framework of personal references that inform the fragile division between my life and my art.”
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