Art of Protection

At Chemould Prescott Road gallery,a number of cage-like cane armours are suspended from the ceiling. These are visual artist Shakuntala Kulkarni’s latest set of creations,titled “Of bodies,armours and cages”,meticulously constructed over months. “I went into the interiors of Assam and obscure cane shops in Mumbai to find people who would be able to help me implement these designs,” says Kulkarni,while referring to her little-known co-workers who helped give shape to her personal vision,which was based on an abstract idea.

“I wanted to create armours that could symbolise protection of bodies from the atrocities of urban life,” she says. To execute this,Kulkarni drew from her own fascinations and experiences,bitter and sweet. “The message is serious,but I wanted to enjoy the process,” she says. So,each of her 11 costumes are an absurd mix of pop culture and traditional. One costume wears the head of a majestic Victorian queen with Assamese embellishments on its torso. Another’s headgear is modelled on the ’60s Bollywood star,Asha Parekh’s curls. And in a set-up that is largely feminine,one costume resembles Bachchan’s bell bottoms. “It made things easier for my worker Dinesh,who immediately connected with it,” she says.

Kulkarni’s earlier association with the theatre of Satyadev Dubey and Badal Sircar has influenced her collection too. The exhibition includes a series of photographs that captures her in these costumes at various locations across Mumbai. The costumes,with their defined,dramatic poses,are her reference to the theatre experience. “Every costume that you see here has its own language,” she says.

These stiff,cane-armours are of great discomfort to the person wearing it,to the extent that one can’t bend the hand beyond a point,and Kulkarni points out the paradox that comes out of it. “Any kind of protection on a human being is also a curb of freedom,and this is what I’ve tried to show,” she says.