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Paintings and installations by contemporary artists woven around the theme 'Fluid Signs: Perceptions and Identity' was inaugurated on January 14,
2007, by Ashrafi Bhagat, head, Department Of Fine Arts, Stella Maris College, Chennai, at the Lalit Kala Akademi (Regional
Centre), Chennai.
'Fluid Signs: Perceptions and Identity' was one of the special events of Explorations, a week of inaugural programmes to mark the Chennai launch of
National Museum of Women in the Arts (India). The exhibition featured works by M S Amarnath, Aparajithan,
Babu Namboodiri, Benitha Perciyal, V G Venugopal, Cynthia Prabhakar, Jehangir Jani, Manish Modi, Shubhra Nag, M Siva, Neeta Gajam, Roopashree,
Sajitha R. Shankar , M Shanthamani and Tamara Malmestrom de Laval.
The exhibition was the result of two artists' camps organised by DakshinaChitra in 2006. Speaking at the inauguration of one of the camps on
September 22, 2006, noted art critic Sadanand Menon had stressed the urgent need for art to look for "new engagements" in an age of 24-hour
media and corporate capitalism. This, he emphasised, was paramount owing to art's humanising function in an increasingly brutalising world.
Just such a creative attempt has been made by the 15 artists featured in 'Fluid Signs: Perceptions and Identity'. The works on display were indeed
fluid signs that collectively provide the clues to the individual's interpretation of values, beliefs and identity in contemporary society.
A second exhibition – Explorations – featured contemporary women artists from south India. On display were works by Roopashree, Sajitha R.
Shankar, M Shanthamani, Cynthia Prabhakar, Benitha Perciyal, Asma Menon, Anamika, Urmila, Premalatha Seshadri and Lorreti Pinto.
R Rangaraj
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