As you step into the TKM Warehouse at Mattancherry, Kochi, a stand-alone brick wall catches the eye. The top is covered by black upholstery, from which hangs several strands of black hair. It looks benign, but Probir Gupta, a featured artist at the Kochi Muziris Biennale, is implying an act of extreme brutality through this work. “This is a reference to the Muzaffarnagar communal riots of 2013 when several women were raped inside their own houses. Finally, seven women decided to speak out about what had happened,” says Probir about the installation titled ‘Witness to Turbulence’.
The Delhi-based artist, who grew up in Kolkata, is inspired by struggles all over the world as well as closer to home. “In Bengal, there was a movement against zamindars or landlords who were ruthlessly snatching land from the people. My work is about people and situations. I don’t claim myself to be from the left or the right. I’m basically for human rights,” says the 59-year-old.
According to Probir, in any area of conflict it is the women who are first attacked. “At present, the Rohingya women are being gang-raped and tortured by Burmese soldiers. This is happening in Syria’s ongoing civil war. It happened in the 1971 Bangladesh War. Korean women, who were called ‘Comfort Women’, were raped by the Japanese soldiers during the Second World War,” he says.
Some of his works have the actual footprints of women who fled Bangladesh during the partition of India in 1947. From a middle-class life, they went tumbling down the social ladder and spent years working as domestic helps in Kolkata households. Every evening the women would meet at a temple dedicated to the snake goddess Manasa in the suburb of Sursuna. “They would sing and cry, thinking about the past, and shared each other’s pain and sorrow. And they always prayed to the Devi for protection,” he elaborates.
Filled with historical references, an installation with the bust of defaced Lord Buddha and a brass plate dated April 2003 stands out for its references to the time when an Iraqi museum in Baghdad was vandalised by American soldiers. “It had some of the most important items of the Mesopotamian civilisation. As a citizen of this world, I wanted to express my outrage,” says Probir. The Buddha is also a reference to the huge sixth-century Buddha statues at Bamiyan, Afghanistan, which were destroyed by the Taliban in March 2001.
Another interesting work is an abstract painting called ‘What If?’, where Probir asks the viewer to imagine former US President George W Bush taking oath of office from legendary Black civil rights activist Dr Martin Luther King. What if, indeed!