New Delhi: An artist has displayed the harsh realities of a farmer’s life and his diminishing importance in contemporary society through a series of images, installations and text.
Akshay Rathore , a Paris-based visual artist, was born in a zamindar (landowner) family of Vidisha in Madhya Pradesh but instead of following the family hierarchy he chose artistic expression to turn his gaze inward and look into a direction ignored by many.
His first solo show in India titled “Impotent Rage” is a culmination of this observation and is on display at Gallery Espace till April 20.
“I grew up in an atmosphere dominated by upper caste politics and witnessed the deterioration of rural social structure, primarily a result of the failure in implementing land reforms post liberalisation,” said Rathore.
“This exhibition delves into the hidden angst in rural India, which is invisible, even impotent. It’s about commercialisation and its impact,” he added.
Initiating some thought-provoking debates on this topic is “Obituary”, a portrait of a Kachhi farmer, Tikaram, 70, who is standing alone, staring at a wall of seeds from his farm.
“Tikaram belongs to a caste of farmers who had mastered the best technique of utilising land fertility. He does all his farming alone and maintains an ethos of bio-diversity and organic produce on his farm,” said Rathore.
The work is a tribute to the “death” of this sort of “wise” farming, he said.
There is “Bull and Bullocks” that compares the two animals.
There are also text and photographs about the process of castration that renders a bull “functional” for human purposes.
“The imposing bull here is a symbol of emasculation, castration, power and masculinity, while the bullock is a docile beast of burden whose testicles have been scientifically crushed as a young calf to pursue its domestication,” he said.