• Anatomy of a Smooth Surface #1 by Rahee Punyashloka - Method
  • Anatomy of a Smooth Surface #1 by Rahee Punyashloka - Method

    Anatomy of a Smooth Surface #1 by Rahee Punyashloka

    Regular price Rs. 85,000.00
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    This portrait is based on a staged photograph of an unknown person, who may or may not be Dhobi themself, and which is the first ever photograph of my community. The person smoothens a white cloth laid out on a table with an iron, an occupational task of my people for generations before and after this photo. There is plenty of metaphorical smoothening that occurs within this image too, be it in the matter of the enduring casteist legacy of the image, of the smooth surface to which my people have historically been mere means, or, of the passivity and the unifying limits of the caste structure. What you see in this portrait is my response to this idea of the Dalit body as a smooth, malleable artefact. The pleats and creases and accentuated grains and noisiness that populates my version of this photograph is the first step toward imagining my ancestors differently than as passive facilitators of smoothening. 

     Size 21" x 30"
    Medium Mixed Media, Archival Photograph, Photograph, Digital and Physical Manipulation (Note : The artwork is physically crumpled by hand by the artist before shipping)
    Framing Unframed
    Year 2024
    Certificate of Authenticity Included
    Editions Limited Edition of 10 + 3 AP
    Shipping Policy Shipping charges as applicable & will be applied at checkout. Please see complete policy here.
    Taxes Included
    Return & Refund Policy No refunds or exchanges on art. Please see complete policy here.

     

     

     

    Rahee Punyashloka (b. 1993, Bhubaneswar) (they/he) is an artist, writer, researcher, and experimental filmmaker based out of Bhubaneswar and New Delhi. Working across disciplines, he seeks to illuminate the vastly unrepresented/underrepresented artistic history of the anti-caste struggle and the Dalit identity. His works have been exhibited in numerous venues including Pulp Society (New Delhi), Latitude 28 (New Delhi); International Film Festival Rotterdam; Athens Video Art Festival; Tribeca Film Festival (New York); ARKIPEL (Jakarta); Ishara Art Foundation (Dubai); KHOJ (New Delhi); Museum of Art and Photography (Bangalore); Arts House (Melbourne), HKW (Berlin) among others.