ARCHIVAL PRINTS
A Light Bearer
The work A Light Bearer speaks about the inner darkness. The Light bearer/Protagonist is holding light outward and searching an honest heart. Embolden from the story of Diogenes (Greek Philosopher) holding the light up to the faces of passer-by in the market place looking for an honest being) – according to him everyone was tapped in this make-a-believe world which they believe was reality and because of this, people were living in a kind of dream state. This series is about the inner darkness which is not only the evil energies within, but also confirms our ego – beliefs and manifests. Similarly, the frontal gaze of the protagonist in the work is showing that act which is an interaction between the protagonist and the viewer.
Survival of the Fittest
Mapping the Spaces - II
Shoot for the Moon. Even if You Miss, You Will Land Among the Stars
In Shoot for the Moon, Even if You Miss, You will Land Among the Stars-II Abhishek Narayan Verma responded towards this motivational quote and enacted the situation he faced by mimicking himself through different gestures and postures in this performance. This work is a photographic documentation of a performance during the artist's residency in Bordeaux, France. The concept of the performance evolved from the outbreak of preconceived idea and imagination of an active livelihood in France before travelling. But, when he reached Bordeaux the experience was totally different. His residency was in an observatory space far away from the hustle and bustle of the city life. Living alone in a new country, isolated in a jungle almost alongside the huge observatory domes and cupolas which were active long ago, was nearly a brainstorming experience for him especially in the nights. This contradiction of imagination and the reality pushed me to react to the situation. While, going through the processes of performance where he tried to reflect the literal meaning of the motivational quote – question raised hypothetically about the motivational quotes that he was taught and soon it shook him from within. So, in the performance he snooped around the observatory holding a broom (resembling his imagination of Harry Potter’s magic broom) and ready to take flight and making move for that with a theatrical kind of gesture in an ironical way.
Stories of Many Darks - I
Stories of Many Darks - I is a set of 36 photographic works that play with shadows. It is a kind of photographic chronicle which looks like a narrative but does not follow any storyline. This series started in the melancholy of the light which was coming from the graveyard. Whenever there was a ceremony those sharp lights used to fall on a particular wall on Abhishek Narayan Verma’s terrace. The artist started documenting the day to day incidents and situations which unconsciously show different chapters of our life. It took six to seven months.
It Became Clearer Over the Years
For It Became Clearer Over the Years Abhishek Narayan Verma took reference from the definition of “Body Politics” i.e. “Bodies are sites in which social constructions of differences are mapped onto human beings. Subjecting the body to systemic regimes – such as government regulation – is a method of ensuring the bodies will behave in socially and politically accepted manners.”
The three seasons summarise a lifetime. The artist is persistently brought to face questions, anxieties and the negotiations that reside with the requirement of identity reformation in order to validate his existence. Here the manipulated postures itself depicts the irony. The imageries used here by overlapping in layers are related to the incidents or things from Abhishek’s past as for instance the use of his father’s x-ray on his chest as a birthmark is depicting the burden of compromises he is carrying to his present room by bridging all the incidents and things he has made. It represents a masochistic attraction that a migrator encounters.
