From Imasi Foundation: Vivan Sundaram speaks on his creative transformation of two iconic figures of modern Indian art: Amrita Sher-Gil (1913-1941) and Ramkinkar Baij (1906-1980), delivering the 5th Maharaj Kumari Binodini Devi Memorial Lecture in Imphal (Manipur, India) on 8 February 2017.
"Re-take of Amrita" (2001-02) provocatively foregrounds the personality of the artist through her father Umrao Sher-Gil’s evocative photographs. He uses digital tools to transform a family album into performative narratives about subjectivity, memory and desire. Ramkinkar’s monumental cement sculptures become contemporary via the aesthetics of the found object, where they also function in a performative manner, within an immersive theater production titled "409 Ramkinkars" (2015). His paintings become sculptural props for the play, which includes a reference to Binodini, whom Ramkinkar painted and drew.
