[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” background_color=”RGBA(255,255,255,0)” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” max_width=”700px” module_alignment=”center” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”]<\/p>\n
Artist Anupam Roy\u2019s solo exhibition \u00a0is a culmination of his many years of intense engagement with multiple systemic distortions. A survey of his career-path suggests an evolving body of work that variously explores ruptures and fault-lines in the relationships between the body, land, ecology, nation\/state, and self: For his final thesis at Ambedkar University New Delhi in 2016, he studied the spectacle of collectivity through a show titled \u00a0Excess<\/em>\u00a0which launched in Ambedkar University New Delhi. In 2018, his exhibition A Beautiful Contract<\/em>\u00a0at Banipur, West Bengal, explored the fraught politics between a land and its fragile inhabitants along with filmmakers, performance artists, and other creatives who were invited during his residency program at BASIC. At Project 88 (the site of the show \u201cIng\u2026\u201d), in 2019 his show titled De-notified Lands<\/em>\u00a0explored the relationships between more-than-human lifeforms and their migratory identities on land, and a 2024 exhibition Time is Sloshing<\/em>\u00a0followed the nonlinear, zigzagging nature of time. These diverse, and eclectic creative tributaries surge seamlessly toward this flowing river of an exhibition, nestled in the heart of Colaba\u2019s pasta lanes and fire brigade.<\/p>\n \n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” width=”95%” max_width=”1600px” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/galleryespace.com\/artespace\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/saranya-FIRST-G-VIEW.jpg” title_text=”saranya-FIRST-G VIEW” show_in_lightbox=”on” align=”center” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content” sticky_enabled=”0″][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”0a6c4baa-304e-458e-9003-bb7edad6cc4b” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content” sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n View from the Gallery – <\/em>Project 88.<\/u><\/em><\/a><\/span>\u00a0Exhibition: \u201c\u2026ing: Sceneries Without Sovereignty\u201d by Anupam Roy. Picture courtesy: Mr Rane<\/em><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” max_width=”700px” module_alignment=”center” custom_margin=”||16px|||” locked=”off” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”]<\/p>\n In Anupam\u2019s own words, the nomenclature of the exhibition – \u00a0\u201c…ing: Sceneries Without Sovereignty<\/em>\u201d (Oct.\/Nov. 2025) – embodies his journey of \u201ctrying to understand the present continuous tense\u201d. Various collaborative artworks explore different forms like zines, posters, paintings, poems, film, and sculpture. Even the title of every piece is a continuation of the present: \u201c…ing_1\u201d, \u201c…ing_2\u201d, and so on, and each work seems to be pulsating<\/em>\u00a0with a heartbeat, telling us \u2018we are here, we are alive, in the present, in the now\u2019.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” custom_padding=”3px|||||” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/galleryespace.com\/artespace\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/saranya-DSCF8267.jpg” title_text=”saranya-DSCF8267″ show_in_lightbox=”on” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content” sticky_enabled=”0″][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”0a6c4baa-304e-458e-9003-bb7edad6cc4b” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content” sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n Posters by Anupam Roy,<\/em>\u00a0Design with Pinak Banik; Wallpaper screenprint with Mohammad Ali, Indrajit Dutta and Gobinda Paul; Offset print with Graphic Print and Publicity. Picture Courtesy: Mr Rane<\/em><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” max_width=”700px” module_alignment=”center” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”]<\/p>\n Posters reminiscent of Soviet-era public artworks, Banksy\u2019s London graffiti, and CPIML prints found in the streets of Kolkata welcome visitors at the entrance. Strong statements such as \u201cRebellion is Grotesque\u201d and \u201cCasteing Shadows\u201d are juxtaposed with jarring illustrations of monstrous creatures holding, or being held by, ordinary objects and everyday contexts: glass bottles, slum housing, pole towers, and places of worship. The artist sheds light on one of the most pressing issues facing India, and especially Bengal, today: SIR and immigrant-based violence. These posters highlight how working-class people, Bengali Muslims, and those from disenfranchised castes have been serially targeted by the CRPF, Border Security Forces, SIR surveys, and new laws such as the CAA-NRC. One of the posters highlights how the border hinges upon the creation of identity based on caste, religion, and otherness, while another emphasises how immigrants are either given undignified jobs with minimum wages within the country, or treated as less than human by the BSF and CRPF when eradicated. Victims of these border violences haunt Anupam, and are remembered through these illustrated posters.<\/p>\n \n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” width=”100%” max_width=”1735px” module_alignment=”center” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/galleryespace.com\/artespace\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/saranya-DSCF8326.jpg” title_text=”saranya-DSCF8326″ show_in_lightbox=”on” align=”center” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content” sticky_enabled=”0″][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”0a6c4baa-304e-458e-9003-bb7edad6cc4b” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content” sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n Where Is My City<\/em>\u00a0by Moumita Alam on LED, Production with Brijesh Vishwakarma, Yogesh Barve. Picture courtesy: Mr Rane<\/em><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” max_width=”700px” module_alignment=”center” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content” sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n In another work, a poem by Moumita Alam called \u201cWhere is my City?\u201d tickers in green font on an LED screen above our heads\u2014an almost threshold-like archway opening up into the next portal of artworks: zines and a short film, made in collaboration with Yogesh Barve. One of the zines flips through a poem by Vidrohi<\/em>\u00a0(Ramashankar Yadav),\u00a0<\/u><\/a><\/span>Nayi Kheti<\/u><\/em><\/a><\/span>, while another compares how capital mines natural resources and intellectuals mine subaltern experiences. The work directs its commentary squarely at the urban elite audiences of a South Mumbai art-gallery, who speak self-righteously and charitably about subaltern lives during their dinnertime conversations\u2026<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I search for the city of mine Where is my city now? <\/span>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0– \u00a9 Where is My City by Moumita Alam<\/p>\n <\/p>\n In the corner lies a small television box with a short film titled \u201c7 broken stories\u201d, playing on loop. After walking through assaults of poetry, zines and posters, visitors are made to suddenly slow down, sit in front of a screen, and spend thirty minutes in stillness. There is something powerful in this deliberate formal excess of the different works – viewers are overcome with a sensory overload, urged to look at eclectic dimensions of visual, auditory, and textural surfaces. The formal complexity appears to echo the thematic force of rebellion, and revolution, that surface in diminutive capsules or displayed boldly over one\u2019s head, through language and imagery that is illuminated and captivating.<\/p>\n In another work, a series of gargantuan paintings\u201496×60 and 96×72 canvases\u2014each one interspersed with microscopic photographic tiles\u20144×4 in size\u2014frames rural landscapes, featuring labouring humans, animals, soils, machines, environments, fires, and homes. The large paintings are explorations of the grotesque body, anthropomorphic in nature, and throbbing with life in an everchanging environment. These canvases are \u201cpainted\u201d with acrylic\/oil colours, but also with sand, cement, and a mixture of earthen elements. Most of the humans that he painted have their faces covered, or missing, emplaced by animals, tools, and \u2018objects\u2019 of labour. The distorted bodies in their environments serve as a commentary on how a person is reduced to their labour, and how labour is tied to questions of identity, migrant movement, and sovereignty. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Even the biodiversity that surrounds each of these characters in the acrylic paintings has been carefully selected by Anupam. None of them are essentially \u201csacred\u201d or \u201choly\u201d animals; they are, in his words, \u201cashubh\u201d: blackish cats and foxes, the \u201casura\u201d-esque buffalo, the night owl. As for the vegetation, none of it is native to this soil. For instance, the gulmohar brought here from Madagascar, and slowly adapted to local climates and soils. A clever reminder that anti-immigrant rhetoric, which is often deeply entrenched in the idea of one\u2019s \u201croots\u201d, stands flawed, even in the most \u201crooted\u201d organisms. Artists and poets who have inspired his ideas lurk around the corner, hide behind canvases, peek out of different forms and materials. The spectral presence of sculptor Ramkinkar Baij stares back at us in the painting, \u201c…ing_5\u201d, while \u201c…ing_6\u201d pays tribute to K P Krishnakumar\u2019s 1985 fiberglass sculpture, \u201cThief\u201d.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” width=”95%” max_width=”1600px” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/galleryespace.com\/artespace\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/saranya-INGS.jpg” title_text=”saranya-INGS” show_in_lightbox=”on” align=”center” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content” sticky_enabled=”0″][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”0a6c4baa-304e-458e-9003-bb7edad6cc4b” text_font=”Josefin Sans||||||||” text_line_height=”1.6em” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content” sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n On display: Paintings by Anupam Roy (L-R)<\/em>\u00a0\u2026ing_6, \u2026ing_1, \u2026ing_4, \u2026ing_3, \u2026ing_5 (Mixed Media on Canvas). Picture courtesy: Mr Rane<\/em><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” max_width=”700px” module_alignment=”center” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”]<\/p>\n
Where is it?
where it was!
my memory gets blurred.
It was in the ghettos of Godhra
or maybe in the valley of Narmada.
No No
It was in Muzaffarnagar
it was in Nellie
No, it was on the bank of Jhelum
or in the deep forest of Bastar
it was in Kucheipedar
it was on lush green pregnant lands of Nandigram
It was in Marichjhapi.
It was in Jafrabad,chand bagh
and have forgotten.
My memory betrays me always.
My memory has become annals
mixing up dates, years, places
2020,1947,1964,1968,1984,1983, 1989,1992,2002,2007,1979
and still recording…
All the cities of mine are smelling warm gun-powders
the siren of the khakis and that killing shout
all are the same.<\/p>\n
you have devoured and are devouring it through your hatred.<\/p>\n