Border Line

While Chowdhry paints her narratives on the Pachisi board game and kites,Ijlal has depicted tales on canvases and miniature cupboards. “These raise curiosity and urge people to open the doors,” she says,pointing out that each 11-inch cupboard portrays a story. So while one features a pining couple,in another Ijlal portrays a handcuffed trapeze artist. “As a child I used to often notice circus artists in tents near my home in Bhopal. Inside the ring they wore a smile,but they seemed grim otherwise,” says Ijlal,33,whose tutoring in art came from her mother,who taught fine arts at the Kamla Nehru School,Bhopal. The exhibition comprises a body of work done over eight years at her Mayur Vihar studio. “I decided to share it,” she smiles.

In the absence of Chowdhry,who could not come down for the exhibition,Ijlal takes the onus of introducing her works too. “The medium is interesting,” she says,looking at a work titled The Shadow Lines. It comprises a series of kites — if one is in flax paper and wax has borders made of burnt holes,another is in dyed red abaca paper and inscribed with border-related terminologies like the Line of Control and Cease Fire Line. On the floor,the work The Crooked Lines revisits the Pachisi game,where silk panels are printed with geographical borders. “The borders are taken from political situations — India-Pakistan,Palestine-Israel,Korea,Germany,Vietnam and so on. It makes pointed remarks at the ways in which national borders are ‘played’ by political leaders and military personnel,” says Nath.

Ijlal hopes that their works will make an impact. “It should nudge people to think,” she says,adding that several other unpainted cupboards are packed in her studio and there are many more tales that she intends to tell.

The exhibition at Gallery Seven Art,

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