As you enter Delhi’s Akar Prakar Contemporary Gallery, on the right you will find an installation of a gate inspired by Buddhist architecture. Built not from brick and mortar but barbed wire.
This artwork by Sisir Thapa, titled Gateways, is part of the ongoing art show, A-PART: Stories of Lands and Lines at the gallery.
The show tries to address the several interpretations of borders and boundaries by eight artists from the Northeast states of India.
Thapa, who hails from Sikkim, being one of them. He says, “There was a time when borders were easier to cross.
Now, with a number of borders within Northeastern states, one feels quite restricted. Additionally, these states also share international borders.” Gateways, he says, should give you a sense of being welcomed, his installation takes a stoic no-entry stance. “Checkpoints at the borders, to some extent, always appear imposing. Hence, I used barbed wire in the installation.”
Thlana Bazik from Mizoram also used the barbed wire with mirrors installed underneath. He did this to bring forth Mizo identity crisis, and the mirrors indicate his reflective thoughts on this subject.
Textual references and maps take the viewer towards the history of the formation of present-day Mizoram.
Thapa has also brought the essay, titled Maps, Mission, Memory and Mizo Identity, by Mizo scholar Lal Dingluaia, who examines the role of imperial maps and Christian missionaries, among other factors that have formed the Mizo identity.
The show is curated by Vikash N Kumar and Pranamita B and of Zero Gravity Collective.
Pranamita B says, “The Northeast is often considered exotic but the region is also marked by a number of problems. The political and social factors of migration, militancy, among others disrupt daily lives.”
As an expert on contemporary art in Northeast India, Pranamita B shares her challenges to bring this show to the capital as many galleries in Delhi were not quite interested in talking about the arts of this region.
“Delhi being the capital of India and the Northeast being a part of the same country, it is imperative to have a conversation between the two. Being in Delhi for the last 15 years, I have observed that people know very little about the region. Few of them don’t even realise it is a part of India or which states form Northeast India.”
AT: Akar Prakar Contemporary TILL: August 16