A kaleidoscope of fauna forms the terrain. Inhabiting it are familiar faces — from Irom Sharmila to the cotton farmers and even millions of activists protesting against the Kudankulam nuclear power project in Tuticorin, Tamil Nadu. The artwork is a re-documentation of sensational news stories. It is a tribute paid by Gipin Varghese to the sufferings and tribulations of thousands of men and women, who are forgotten in the fast-paced world. Titled “Lifetime”, the Kerala-based artist’s debut solo in the Capital exhibits shades of reality. “I’m showcasing the organic order, the struggle with life in different quarters” says the recipient of FICA Emerging Artist Award 2012, who exhibited at Sakshi gallery in May 2012. If the previous outing was a take-off from herbicidal warfare programme during the Vietnam War and illegal mining in Orissa among others, the current purely raises domestic concerns. The fauna might be spread across the frame, but whites leave room for filling in. While the medium of watercolour remains a constant, Varghese experiments with the base, using paper pulp in circular shapes for incidents of honour killings of lovelorn couples, in the series The Dust We Breathe. There are no symbolic motifs, notes Varghese. So the animals occupying the space are mere incidental, whether it is the chameleon in the foreground in A Work About Resistance or the flies on the corpse of cotton farmers in No One Eats Cotton. “It’s straightforward. I want to get people thinking about the complexities of the issues,” says the 34-year-old. The exhibition is on at Vadehra Art Gallery, D 53, Defence Colony, till Sept 6. Contact: 24622545 Vandana Kalra
