Indigo first, famine later

Meenakshi Nihalani – Indigo first, famine later

Man stands face to face with the irrational. He feels within him his longing for happiness and reason. The absurd is born of this confrontation between the human need and the unreasonable silence of the world.
~Albert Camus

Following her international Residencies and group shows where Meenakshi Nihalani centered her process more on gender Issues, we at Gallery Under the Mango Tree gladly present you her first solo exhibition – Indigo first, famine later. Opening on the 30th Aug, through her use of threads, textile and metal, conceptual objects, the Mumbai-based artist explores social dislocation created by colonialism, as well as its effects on the personal histories.

Exhibition Indigo first, famine later centers itself on the historical moment of the Indigo Revolution in the Indian Sub-continent. It evokes the feelings of pain, helplessness, and absurdities of colonial powers and explores the liminal spaces to understand the induction of poverty in India.

The significance of the Indigo Revolution is the beginning of an affirmation of the human existence which was a forgone under the British Rule. The ‘slave’ who had reached the verge of death by suicide or murder could now have none other choice than “his right to say no.”
The Exhibition reflects upon the absurdism experienced during the Indigo Revolution of 1859 in India; its intent is to look closer at the human behavior towards the neglect of recognizing the tolerance of human condition and it´s being intoxicated with hollow demands of power and colonialism.

„With this singular event, Indigo revolution – one can confront the world populace that is largely enraged, disappointed, fearful and ridden with insecurities against the smaller populace that is ignorant to these realities and aftermath of their desires. Grown amidst the ‘subaltern’ mind, the documentation of atrocities becomes significant to awaken the amnesia of the Colonial powers and the inert minds of colonized. The Indigo Revolution hereby creates a parallel to the absurdities of modern inequalities and the third world existences, to break the refusal in addressing the underlying anxieties“ as the artist puts in her concept.

The solo exhibition reveals the young artist Meenakshi Nihalani´s engagement with ideas of recall, time and reach back into history and overlay the past onto the present through citations of significant historical events. The works allude to the residue of time and a release of that which is nested deep underneath the surface of the present narrative.

With it’s gripping depiction of pain through conceptual language, the exhibition aims to bring to life the colonial inhumanity for greed and power, while serving also as a clear and painful reminder of the injustice committed.

A fine arts graduate from J.J. School of Arts, Mumbai in India, Meenakshi Nihalani lives and works in Mumbai.