Fine Art Award Ceremony 2021 — Inlaks Shivdasani Foundation Blog

The 2021 Inlaks Fine Art Awardees, Savyasachi Anju Prabir, Salman Bashir, Anisha Baid, Maksud Ali Mondal and Gurjeet Singh, were presented to the Inlaks family and the art fraternity via an intimate virtual event on February 17th, 2021.

The evening’s events began with a welcome by Amita Malkani, an address by the Chairman of the Inlaks Shivdasani Foundation, Azad Shivdasani, followed by presentations by the five awardees. The keynote was delivered by Founding Director of the Delfina Foundation, Aaron Cezar.

The online ceremony proved to be a wonderful way via which Inlaks collaborators, previous awardees and friends of the Foundation were able to attend from around India and the world. In both their addresses, Mr. Shivdasani and Aaron encouraged the young artists in the audience to continue creating by highlighting the power of art to reflect, remind and reiterate the urgencies of the times. By way of their presentations, the five awardees shared the inner workings of their practices.

Listed below are a few highlights from the evening’s events.

Chairman’s Address

Chairman of the Inlaks Shivdasani Foundation, Azad Shivdasani, in his speech communicated with the audience the Foundation’s mission and why it considers supporting arts programming to be significant. He related that the core of Foundation’s mission is to identify exception and original talent amongst individuals in India and provide learning experiences that will nurture that talent and bring it to full expression, as it believes passionately in the power of the individual to positively impact society.

In particular, he said that he considers artists some ways the keepers of the flame in an increasingly divided world. In a world where artificial boundaries are being imposed on our consciousness, those who continue to think freely and challenge the accepted norm and boundaries must be encouraged and protected. According to him, it is within an artist’s nature push the boundaries. While what they produce however isn’t utilitarian, he pondered what life would be without things of aesthetic value and things that challenge the world to think differently. This is why Inlaks has supported the arts in particular since 1981 and consider arts and culture as important as law, economics, the sciences or any other subject.

Keynote Address

Aaron Cezar presenting Bapist Coelho’s work — Aaron Cezar presenting Baptist Coelho’s work

In his presentation, Aaron addressed the limitations that Covid-19 imposed on us all this past year and shared some ideas and inspirations for the road ahead. He offered a short provocation that looked back at examples in contemporary arts in order to look forward and imagine a possible future. He presented projects that have inspired him during his time as director of the Delfina Foundation. He shared examples of art that delved upon the history of violence, trauma and reconciliation as well as the notion of care and public responsibility with the help of works by Baptist Coelho. Citing the example of The Silent University, an autonomous learning platform created specially to help refugees and migrant labour in London, Aaron shared how artists can play the role of manifesting, conceiving and reconfiguring the political, social and economic landscape our time.

While speaking of the theme-based residencies that Delfina hosted, he touched upon works the works of Amar Kanwer and Gordon Matta Clark that inspired their theme The Politics of Food. The last example he shared was from another thematic programme, Collecting as a Practice. He spoke about how, A Selective Guide to the V&A’s South Asia Collection, a book by Inlaks recipient, Avni Tanya, explored the politics and psychology of collecting in colonial India. The book invited its readers to think about the intention behind creation of the objects collected at the Victoria and Albert Museum, think how it was perceived by its colonial collectors it and what it says to audiences today. Aaron ended the presentation by sharing some practical advice about the art world and advice that he would give his younger self.

Artist Presentations

A still from Savyasachi Prabir’s film bombay static — A still from Savyasachi Prabir’s film *bombay static*

Savyasachi Anju Prabir – Through his presentation Savyasachi shared his experience as a filmmaker. He explained how with every project, he negotiated his gaze and position of power as a creator. One of the works he shared to explain his evolution was his film, 'static bombay'. The film is a documentation of the working class in the city of Bombay. It observes individuals at work, while accentuating their voicelessness. Through its obtrusive observation, 'static bombay' attempts to politicise the gaze of the camera as well as the 'spectator'.

Nature Unconditioned by Maksud Ali Mondal at the Kochi Muziris Student Biennale, 2018

Maksud Ali Mondal – Maksud Ali Mondal presented his work Nature Unconditioned a durational engagement showcased at the Kochi Muziris Student Biennale, 2018. He explained how the work is a comment on how ecosystems today seem to be more subject to and dominated by human impulses rather than their natural growth process.

Anisha Baid – Through her presentation Anisha Baid shared anecdotes from her research-based practice. Anisha’s practice explores the complex historical relationship between feminine labour and the computer interface.

A still from Salman Bashir Baba’s presentation

Salman Bashir Baba – Amongst the various works that Salman shared with the audience was the artwork, 'Song of the Lost Child'. A part a series of performances, 'ëLullaby of Lostí', performance was conceived to understand the various relationships that are evoked between body and space. The work attempts to question and resist narratives that favour the exotic and nationalistic rhetoric through which the Kashmiri landscape and the body are seen.

Gurjeet Singh’s recorded tour of his studio

Gurjeet Singh – Gurjeet Singh took the audience through his studio space sharing with them the various influences on his practice. He took them through a series of work entitled Love is Love, which celebrates the primarily creates sculptures, painting, drawings and installations. The sculpture, 'Two Men in Love', as the name suggests, depicts the forbidden love shared by two men.