Monumental Turns: Ayesha Singh tackles the passage of time through architecture
by Dilpreet BhullarSep 28, 2023
•make your fridays matter with a well-read weekend
by Rahul KumarPublished on : Mar 12, 2021
For contemporary visual artist Ayesha Singh, socio-political hierarchies have remained the core of her work. Within Contradiction, an online solo presentation by Nature Morte, pursues these conversations through public and private spaces in India’s capital city, New Delhi, where Singh grew up. Through this body of work, she questions the pecking order of power and layers it with the architecture and associated histories it can embody. The works respond to current discourses around the significance of architecture as the evidence of power, authority and change. Singh uses iconic and recognisable buildings like the Parliament House and Rashtrapati Bhawan (official residence of the Indian President) in her work. Ongoing redevelopment of the Central Vista and associated widespread opposition of it adds a distinct lens to view the series. Singh has spent the last year developing the works that employ the visual vocabulary of familiar symbols like the flag to reflect on the shifts that continuously shape the nation as we know it.
I briefly speak to the artist and Vidisha Aggarwal, the curator of online show.
The flag, since time immemorial, has held a potent significance as a symbol of identity creation in relation to imposed demarcations, such as borders and territories. Considering its universality, Singh utilises its familiar form to imply the inherent connotations that are accessible globally. Within this framework, she addresses the nuanced manner in which architecture holds up socio-political hierarchies in reference to the politics of flags.
“We often look at the flag as a symbol of nationhood, nation-making, and recognition of the self in association with a geographically marked space. When ideas about belonging have been altered, what does the flag mean to us?” says Singh.
Also, artist's Hybrid Amalgamation series are graphite drawings for possible totemic structures that combine elements of a city’s architecture from various cultures, religions and times. The series, which Singh first started in 2017, previously included historical buildings as markers of our multicultural coexistences, drawn at their current state of completion, devoid of any human traces. Building on this, Singh has created a new series of drawings which present moments of reformation through the construction, restoration and destruction of architecture, and through it the lives, stories and agency of people.
The works delve into the present multiplicities and conflicting narratives that exist in simultaneity, not through the linear idea of time, but its ability to collapse and flatten into one another through graphite on paper.
Also read: Artists Ayesha Singh and Misael Soto bring Provisional Obstruction to Art Basel, Miami
by Rosalyn D`Mello Sep 28, 2023
Dreams That Money Can Buy subverts the categories of art, craft and authorship through the domain of child play
by Urvi Kothari Sep 25, 2023
A sensorial dialogue on the visible and the invisible through a non-obvious juxtaposition of artworks by Marisa Merz and Shilpa Gupta at the MAXXI L'Aquila.
by Hili Perlson Sep 24, 2023
Marking the official start of the art season in the German capital, the action-packed festival celebrated the city’s wide range of art spaces and its art-hungry audiences.
by Zeynep Rekkali Jensen Sep 20, 2023
In an exclusive interview with STIR, Campolmi explores her unconventional path into curatorial work, her commitment to addressing postcolonial, queer, and feminist themes and more.
make your fridays matter
SUBSCRIBEDon't have an account?
Sign UpOr you can join with
Already signed up?
LoginOr you can join with
Please select your profession for an enhanced experience.
Tap on things that interests you.
Select the Conversation Category you would like to watch
Please enter your details and click submit.
Enter the code sent to
What do you think?