uday.shanbhag
Uday Shanbhag : "Name on rice", Sept. 2013 Steel+Magnifying glass+paper+rice H - 4.2 x L - 4.8 x W - 2.5 cm. Additions : 1/4
Name on rice :
(Rambhau Bapurao Borkhade – Name of one of the 4 farmers committed suicides just a day before the India`s 66 Independence day) In India, we are quite accustomed to monumentalizing our greatness. We build statues at every nook and corner of our cities of people who most of us don’t even remember for greatness that we definitely don’t recall. Our shining India, only shines for just a few. My work has and continues to look at, within the framework of my practice, the stains that lie beneath this shining façade. The farmer is a recurring subject, ghostly and godly in my paintings. The farmer is my history, my present, myself. In a way to shake our people off their amnesiac stupor, “Name on rice” is a reminder of the 1,85,000 farmers that killed themselves in what has and is spoiling the country’s forward-steering image. The use of rice is symbolic and iconographic as it is not only our staple food but is also used in Hindu mythology as offerings to Goddess Lakshmi. Rice is also used in fertility rites, rituals for blessings and prosperity. Name on rice thus is dedicated to and in memory of hope that got lost and hope that we should definitely not forget. (Text by Leandre D'Souza)
Uday Shanbhag : "Name on rice", Sept. 2013 Steel+Magnifying glass+paper+rice H - 4.2 x L - 4.8 x W - 2.5 cm. Additions : 1/4
Name on rice :
(Rambhau Bapurao Borkhade – Name of one of the 4 farmers committed suicides just a day before the India`s 66 Independence day) In India, we are quite accustomed to monumentalizing our greatness. We build statues at every nook and corner of our cities of people who most of us don’t even remember for greatness that we definitely don’t recall. Our shining India, only shines for just a few. My work has and continues to look at, within the framework of my practice, the stains that lie beneath this shining façade. The farmer is a recurring subject, ghostly and godly in my paintings. The farmer is my history, my present, myself. In a way to shake our people off their amnesiac stupor, “Name on rice” is a reminder of the 1,85,000 farmers that killed themselves in what has and is spoiling the country’s forward-steering image. The use of rice is symbolic and iconographic as it is not only our staple food but is also used in Hindu mythology as offerings to Goddess Lakshmi. Rice is also used in fertility rites, rituals for blessings and prosperity. Name on rice thus is dedicated to and in memory of hope that got lost and hope that we should definitely not forget. (Text by Leandre D'Souza)