Stamps, spit and statements: Pune show challenges how we think of postage and politics
The project, featuring over 700 works, will be on exhibit at Koregaon Park today
The project, which has drawn participation from several countries, including India, Bulgaria, Japan and the US, has resulted in a unique exhibition featuring more than 700 works Long before emails made letter writing redundant, people made an intimate ritual out of sealing inland letters and envelopes using their spit. Mumbai-based mixed media artist Nilesh Kinkale, a veteran of shows at Kala Ghoda Festival, Bandra Festival and Creyssac Menet, France, among others, used spitting as a metaphor to indicate a political situation “where leaders work very little but show and earn a lot from it”.
Kinkale, who learned art at the Sir J J School of Art, Mumbai, decoded the sociopolitical message by conceiving an art project, Thook Lagana Mana Hai, a take on a common appeal by authorities to not spit in public places. More than 300 artists, which include important names such as Riyas Komu, were asked to interpret the statement, “Thook Lagana Mana Hain” in stamp-shaped miniature artworks. Komu has used wood to create a map of India and the Preamble to the Constitution in his work ‘Tribute to Ambedkar’.
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