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Lot Essay
With a visual language derived from her city of birth, Prajakta Palav Aher explores the workings of Mumbai through her art. Painting from photographic references that she has collected over time, Aher's canvases bring forth her own anxieties and concerns as a resident of the rapidly changing metropolis. Taking the Hindu god Ganesha out of his venerated position, in this canvas Aher presents the deity as an ordinary citizen of Mumbai commuting through the city on a local train. "Palav's Ganesha is a god turned into Everyman: friendless and melancholy at dawn, not a universal force with power over men's fates, but a hostage to the impersonal forces of electricity, diesel and speed, one more passenger in the compartment of a hurtling modernity." (N. Adajania, 'The City in Reverse: Prajakta Palav Aher's Image Rotations' in [SOLO II], exhibition catalogue, p. 6)
Mumbai is my home and it is an inspiration for me. My father was born and brought up in Lalbag. As a result, I have strong memories of watching all the festivals celebrated in Mumbai, including Ganpati festival was a special occasion as everyone would come together in the spirit of celebration. No matter how long the queue outside the pandal was, the excitement of watching Ganpati was amazing. There was a different kind of pleasure in conceiving this fantasy as a reality while imagining one's self in it.
But the scene changed as I grew up, I started analyzing certain factors. And then I couldn't entertain myself in such artificial realities. The temporary world 'inside the pandal' no longer remained a matter of excitement. Ganpati, an idol of knowledge (permanent) could travel along with anyone in a local train leaving his palace behind. My work questions the preconceived notion of an 'ideal beauty'. I like to play with the viewer's visual sensibility with less manipulation of the original reference. (in conversation with the artist, August 2011)
Mumbai is my home and it is an inspiration for me. My father was born and brought up in Lalbag. As a result, I have strong memories of watching all the festivals celebrated in Mumbai, including Ganpati festival was a special occasion as everyone would come together in the spirit of celebration. No matter how long the queue outside the pandal was, the excitement of watching Ganpati was amazing. There was a different kind of pleasure in conceiving this fantasy as a reality while imagining one's self in it.
But the scene changed as I grew up, I started analyzing certain factors. And then I couldn't entertain myself in such artificial realities. The temporary world 'inside the pandal' no longer remained a matter of excitement. Ganpati, an idol of knowledge (permanent) could travel along with anyone in a local train leaving his palace behind. My work questions the preconceived notion of an 'ideal beauty'. I like to play with the viewer's visual sensibility with less manipulation of the original reference. (in conversation with the artist, August 2011)