IMAGINARIUM 3.0, the third edition of Emami Art All-India Open Call Exhibition, features some of the most recent artworks by ten selected young artists. The exhibition showcases an eclectic selection of works spanning a range of mediums, styles and forms. A dedicated and meticulous attempt to experiment with and expand the medium is palpable in many of their works. Coming from various institutional and social backgrounds, these artists are united by a sense of urgency to respond to the pressing concerns of the present times. In them, one can perceive traces of some of the recent seminal events that unsettled the world, the consequential impacts of which are also subtly reflected.
Ushnish Mukhopadhyay’s works range from drawings, animated videos and sculptural installations, following an archival logic of citation to explore the dark, violent and morbid perceptions of death and its imaginative possibilities. Aritra Majumder makes his grids by maintaining a particular geometric format comprising layers upon layers. The balance between splatters, marks, and stains creates a free-flowing visual, tracing complex terrains of culture, emotion and invasion. Richa Arya's works are strong visual articulations of the marginal voices of concern, broadly dealing with gender-based inequalities, patriarchy, and female agency with regard to religious and moral conservatism. Born and raised in a farming family, Ahalya Rajendran’s paintings narrate the innocent experiences inspired by the most intimate memories of her village. The nostalgia of childhood and adulthood runs throughout her works. Ali Nakbhi’s visual universe reflects the interaction and connection he makes with the environment. Although bursting at the seams, urban spaces in his works bear a grim and heavy tone, depicting a sense of isolation and dejection. Through his art practice, Deepak Kumar explores the consequences of uncontrolled urbanisation and its effects on ecology and biodiversity. The need for sustainability and eco-sensitive thinking resonates across his works. Saroj Kumar Badatya’s woodcut works trace the physical changes that abandoned places gradually undergo. Multiple perspectives and hybrid colours create a dark and eerie sense, alluding to the irreparable and irreversible changes caused by loss and abandonment. Sheshadev Sagria’s works narrate the world of the marginalised, speculating an alternative body through the prism of caste hierarchies and their connection to health. Politics of caste, health and care are the recurring themes of his practice. Sumon Mondal explores the idea of a crowd through various materials and methods, articulating its diversity and characteristics on various levels. His works try to capture the sensorial experience of a multitude of people in urban areas and other public spaces. Swapna Halder’s artworks are powerful and personalised expressions of vulnerabilities. They depict weakness, memory, pain and anxiety in the most captivating ways.