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Journalism of Courage
He draws an analogy between trash and archaeology. Even archaeologists,when they dig,they investigate what trash is left behind. Its an evidence of what the society and the community was doing at that time, says Asim Waqif. Over the last decade,he has successfully managed to glorify trash as not something to be put aside,but material that can be built into a work of art.
Following a series of much acclaimed international exhibitions,the artist is now holding his first solo in the home turf. It wasnt really planned this way, says Waqif,even as visitors flock the gallery days after the show Disruptions opened at Nature Morte. The exhibition gives a glimpse into the artists career digital prints on archival paper produced for an eco-art residency at Khoj in 2008 form the base of a work and a three-channel video depicting the lives of scavengers on the Yamuna and the making of his work HELP,Jumnas Protest,where plastic bottles,metal frames and LED lights were part of a site-specific floating installation on the Yamuna in 2010-2011. Ive tried to think of the surface of the river as a place for propaganda its quite visible yet ignored, says the 35-year-old,who also interviewed scavengers based around the Yamuna in his video. Their perspective of the river is interesting, he says. His artwork gives an insight into the man behind it.
The wall work Zaya 2 has sheep skin traded by Waqif for trekking shoes in Garhwal during one of his mountain expeditions. The central piece in the installation Besuri Bansuri is an old Rajdoot motorbike that the artist learned how to ride on in 1979. Later used by his brother,it was parked under Waqifs DDA apartment for four years,where cement debris from construction work settled on it. This stands between bamboo sticks,another material that has been prominent in Waqifs work.
At the India Art Summit,2011,his work Hazard! resembled an under construction site built with bamboos and ropes reflecting a sound-sensitive video projection. The status of bamboo been perceived as a pedestrian material in India and his association with it,posed a challenge for Waqif when preparing for his solo at Palais de Tokyo,Paris,last year. For Europeans,its completely the opposite,its exotic, he observes. In France,Waqif stumbled upon huge piles of material from the previous show that was going to be destroyed. The discarded wooden frames,plastic waste and metal that formed the material for his exhibit was inhabited by a complex interactive electronic systems. High-heels were not advised,and children under five were barred from entrance. Which is sad,because children are most intuitive with art, says Waqif.
In the Delhi show too,one gets a sense of Waqifs engagement with space and materials,particularly in works that occupy the basement of the gallery,where the exhibits expose the hoarder in the artist. On the floor are three typewriters passed on from his grandparents,drawers full of tools,wires,nuts and bolts,cutting implements from Hauz-Qazi,Ajmeri Gate and Europe and a sharper from ASCI,Hyderabad,where his father worked in the 80s. My workshop is filled with such material. Usually I look at accumulation and waste in society,with this show Im looking at that in my own life, says Waqif. He has spent months with carpenters in Nagpur and also learnt how to work with copper pipes from a refrigerator mechanic for his art.
A visitor approaches his work Piles,with metal waste from various sites. The blaring audio sound suddenly activates,leaving the visitor stunned. This is what I want interaction with the artwork. I want people to touch the artwork,thats when itll respond, says Waqif.
The exhibition at Nature Morte,A-1,Neeti Bagh,is on till October 19. Contact: 41740215
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