Bharati Kapadia
Bharati Kapadia is a visual artist based in Mumbai. Her conceptual and visual concerns have evolved in response to certain key events in her life – particularly the 1992 communal riots in her city when every night was a nightmare. Sticks and sword clashes tore through the air while the police station below her building stood silent and she lay awake feeling utterly trapped and powerless to act. A few months later, she lost a much loved friend in a bomb blast while traveling together in the same train – an event that altered the very fabric of her inner and outer reality – marking the beginning of a shift in the methodology of her art-making process. She began to tear, cut and split various materials – paper, fabric, rope, found material such as drawing pins, newspapers, gunny sacks, etc. – building the surface of her work from fragments and smaller independent works. Although language is a tool she wields well, her works aim to implant understanding directly into the viewer, transcending the limited nature of speech. In due course, one may begin to feel a growing sense of certainty about some things and wonder at the insecurity of others.
