A tribute to Womanhood

The presented work is from a series 'A tribute to womanhood' undertaken in the technique of multiple exposures on film. First the tribute part. A seemingly hackneyed and done to death theme 'A Tribute to womanhood' juxtaposes women in their different avatars with different contexts assigned to them. Some of these contexts are those which might have come to be associated 'traditionally' whereas others are purely imagined. The technique: Multiple Exposures in an antiquated and almost obsolete photographic technique in which more one image is made on the same frame by exposing the same negative more than once while it is still inside the camera.The technique gives layers when there is an overlap of images. On the other side the same technique leads to dynamic and interpretive compositions when unrelated images are aligned next to each other without an overlap. These days it is possible to get a similar effect through Photoshop but multiple exposures is a skill which requires a great degree of technical and compositional precision. For me, it is the protean possibilities afforded by the technique and the inherent unpredictability of the 'final image'which leads me to multiple exposures time and again. 'Lingerie and Egg-tray' ( image a)comes from 2 exposures – one from a lingerie advertisement in print (a well-known non-desi brand) and an empty egg-tray. The juxtaposition of the two images gives a layered effect- visually as well as contextually. And brings out the inherent contradiction in the roles assigned to women- one as that of a commodity which incites lust (in popular media) and the other one that of an egg-laying (child-bearing) organism. Female Foeticide and We(Imageb) has 3 exposures. Image on the left is from a female foeticide campaign , the word-WE comes from a propaganda message on Badarpur Highway by a marxist party as also the tiger. The three unrelated exposures seem to interact with each other in the final image- spatially as well as contextually so intensely that one overlooks the fact that these are different images combined into one. The national animal leaping on the female foetus is only a truth we all know too well. Plus the fact that Badarpur has a high- rate of female infanticide in Delhi NCR. 'Muse and Use'(Image c) dwells on a theme which is almost a tradition with visual-arts- the relationship between an artist and his muse. Humorous and tongue in cheek.

Lingerie and eg… Female Foeticid… Muse and Use

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