Ways of looking
Join us for a guided tour of the exhibition MASS-Q-LINE with Sumona Chakravarty on 02.09. and 05.09.2022, 17:30 - 19:00 hours.
Sumona Chakravarty is the founder of Hamdasti, a Kolkata-based arts platform for socially engaged arts practices. Her work is participatory in nature, engaging diverse communities over a long period of time and collaboratively intervening in public spaces.
An exhibition by Sumantra Mukherjee
The exhibition will be inaugurated on 12 August 2022 at 6:30 pm in the presence of the artist. The opening programme will include a rap performance by Dipak Pandey, Jyoti Sekhar Das, Minaj Khan and team. This programme is open to all.
The exhibition Mass-Q-Line explores and questions ideas and constructs of masculinity in society. The displays include images, sculptures, moving images, texts and more. Along with the visual showcasing, a live performance around the topic will also be part of the exhibition.
The exhibition is the outcome of a one and a half year long art project, which researched the concept of masculinity as portrayed through generations in family structures, social conversations and also in the popular entertainment industry. Their “makings” of an acceptable man has led to an understanding of "manly" characteristics being related to power directly. Such an understanding has led individuals to resort to an imposed behaviour for being accepted by society as quintessential males.
The project was initiated through conversations with people from all walks of life, in the city of Kolkata, followed by workshops with experts on gender studies.
In the words of gender activist Ms Kamala Bhasin – ‘Masculinity dehumanizes men’. The project aims at indicating towards this particular aspect of dehumanization that leaves an unwelcoming trail of activities which affect not only the non-male members of society but men as well. The adornment of a masculine disguise has led to men being constricted in appearance, activity and behaviour - leading to a synthetic projection of self. As an individual that identifies as male, I myself have been noticing such traits in my own conduct, which I feel has led to a better understanding of the subject.
Sumantra Mukherjee
MASS-Q-LINE is a project within the framework of a larger two-year project titled M3 - Man, Male, Masculinity.
© GI-Kol and S. Mukherjee
Sumantra Mukherjee is an independent freelance artist, who divides his time painting in his studio and sharing his artistic creations and expressions in community and public spaces engaging people. He also does illustrations and graphic novels for children, posters, murals and sculpture using mixed media for initiating dialogues between the arts and common people through their responses and expressions.
He chooses his subjects through emphatic involvement and understanding of the difficulties and changes locally around him, allowing the local public, not necessarily interested in artistic practice, to be involved with imageries that Sumantra creates. Thus enabling the viewers to express their own perspectives and ideas about a variety of issues relevant to their lives.
His first solo presentation ‘Cloud 9’ was installed in 2009 in Kolkata followed by other art projects, namely 'Chiriya Chug Gayi Cake’ (When the Bird Nibbles the Cake) displayed in the Society of Contemporary Artist Space, Kolkata, ‘Chalo Painting Tangai', a community art project in an abandoned port area in Kolkata. His solo international projects include, 'NORMAL', at Het Wilde Weten, Rotterdam which was an outcome of a three-month long residency in Netherlands.
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