BENGALURU: Visual artist Indu Antony mostly depicts her works as a suppressed voice that wants to be heard. Her photographs are currently being exhibited in Xiamen, China, at the Jimei x Arles International Photography Festival. On display are eight exhibits from France and 20 from Asia, and Antony is the only one from Bengaluru on the list. Her photographs were curated by The Museum of Art & Photography (MAP), which also sent works of six other artists from different parts of Asia.
Antony calls her work, titled ‘Vincent Uncle’, an autobiographical project that speaks about patriarchy and child sex abuse. “It features 21 images of the legs of Malayali men. The images represent my repressed memory, which comes as a dream, and I later question whether the incident actually happened,” says Indu, who worked on this project when a memory surfaced after 14 years.
Working on projects with themes like feminism, and women’s safety, Antony picks her themes depending on her state of mind at the moment. “One of my first projects was ‘Broken Strings’, which came about when I made a shift from medicine to arts. It was not well received by my parents. I felt abandoned for picking a career of my choice. That’s when I chanced upon a destitute home and could relate to the people living there,” says Antony, 36, who spent three years at the destitute home for the project.
Antony came to Bengaluru from Kerala to study medicine but was inclined towards the arts. She started shooting still photos, before moving on to making videos, installations, etc. It was not easy for Antony, as her parents remain perplexed about her career choice. “But now, when they see me getting recognised for my work, they are at ease,” she adds.