PAGEANTS OF THE RAJ: the work force’’

1 August, 2012, New Delhi: The Flag Foundation of India is delighted to announce the debut solo exhibition of Devangana Kumar ‘PAGEANTS OF THE RAJ: the work force’ which opens to the public from 25 -31 August 2012 at the Visual Arts Gallery, India Habitat Centre, New Delhi.  The exhibition will be supported by the Flag Foundation of India and curated by Dr. Alka Pande, with catalogue essays written by Prof. Shahid Amin, Pramod Kumar KG and Prof. Shormishtha Panja, and the preview will be held on 24 August 2012 and inaugurated by Mr. Javed Akhtar.

 

‘Pageants of the Raj; the work force’ is self taught artist Devangana Kumar’s debut solo exhibition. The exhibition is representative of Kumar’s exploration of Indian visual culture over several years. It includes 30 artworks that form a part of a conceptual project through which the artist seeks to interrupt the pervasive narrative of caste that was propagated by colonial ethnography, and which in the early 20^th century, during the British Raj, was further disseminated through picture postcards of India sent around the world. Kumar experiments with scale, pigments, and production techniques to displace the complex ideologies imbedded in these stereotypical portraits of Indians, and separates the subjects from the deeply hierarchical setting into which they are involuntarily cast.

 

The results are striking and poignant; original photographs of these anonymous ‘people of the labour force’ are rendered larger than life, reproduced on silk and velvet, and encased in rich, ornate borders.  While alluding to the pageantry both of India’s royalty and the British colonizers after them , Kumar’s works create a feeling of unease as they also point to the social inequity  that continues in India today. “The artist’s exercise is a subtle but clear political statement to examine if in a polarized caste based polity and society like ours, are we ready to renegotiate our traditional relationship with this visual culture in its new avatar? Will the populace accept the bhistee’s personage alongside that of the bejeweled potentate?”- Pramod Kumar KG

 “An  incredible  representation  of  stereotypes  were  evident       number  of  photographs  and  memorabilia  of  the  British  Raj.  Devanagana  Kumar   works  as  a   conceptual  artist  reframing  the  existing  photographs  and  subverting  the  gaze  by  printing  them on  luxurious  material  like  velvet  and  framing  the  large  scrolls  with  ornamental  borders”- Dr. Alka Pande

“The Flag Foundation of India seeks to spread and uphold the true sense and meaning of nationalism through the Tiranga which embodies our modern democratic, secular, and liberal values. We are proud to support the debut solo show of Devangana Kumar, a self-taught artist who has been experimenting with folk arts and crafts for many years. ‘PAGEANTS OF THE RAJ: the work force’; is a result of the artist’s exploration of the deep hierarchies in Indian society through visual culture.  The show tells a fascinating story, and asks important questions about Indian society today. ” - Shallu Jindal, Flag Foundation of India

To receive an invite to the preview on 24 August 2012, or for more information on the artist please contact Nidhi Awasty at nidhi.awasty@flint-pr.com, or on +91 9899598586