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Artist Sunaina Bhalla's exhibition explores human body as a landscape of memories and trauma
Artist Sunaina Bhalla's art exhibition delves into the paradoxes of human existence and features her personal journey as a breast cancer survivor.
Influenced by her journey as a breast cancer survivor, artist Sunaina Bhalla's ongoing exhibition here lays bare the often concealed routines of daily lives and explores the human body as a landscape of memories, trauma and ageing. Showcasing nearly 70 artworks, the ongoing exhibition, "Incursions, Incisions and Renewal", at Exhibit 320 sees Bhalla using techniques like burning and tearing to symbolizes the cyclical nature of life.
"Through the act of destruction by burning, tearing and cutting; I first duplicate lived experiences in a physical form and then attempt to repair, remember and accept the natural and not so natural causes and effects of modern living and ageing on the body,” said the Singapore-based artist in a statement. (Also read: India Art Fair 2024: Artists, gallerists from South Asia converge in Delhi )
Bhalla, besides delving into the paradoxes of human existence in her art, also juxtaposes traditional craft practices such as Ajrak printing and mediums like delicate silk and handmade paper with medical materials like gauze bandages, suture threads and needles.
For instance, a closer look at her work "Synapse" (2018), where multiple cotton ropes are suspended vertically, shows how the twisted cords pierced with numerous dressmaker's pins, symbolising the ordeal of medical procedures, wherein enduring bodily pain in order to heal is an unavoidable part of the cure.
The juxtaposition of "pain and healing, isolation and connection, hidden and revealed" is palpable in the month-long solo exhibition that features Bhalla’s mammograms pre- and post-surgery.
Sharing poignant moments, from her cancer diagnosis to the life-saving surgery and her subsequent recovery, Bhalla, besides expressing her isolation of having to endure the pain of illness, also looks for connections with her audience who may have experienced similar physical struggles. The art exhibition will come to a close on Saturday, February 24, 2024.
