Nalini Malani: Transgressions
On view through August 3, 2014
Asia Society Museum
725 Park Avenue (at 70th Street)
New York City
Nalini Malani was born in 1946 in Karachi, before the 1947 Partition of India. Her work—which spans the mediums of painting, sculpture, installation, performance, and works on paper—explores issues relating to gender, class, and race in a postcolonial world.
The exhibition features Transgressions II (2009), a video/shadow play from the Asia Society Museum Collection. This three-channel video integrates the folk sensibility of traditional shadow plays with new technology, creating a mesmerizing projection of colors and imagery. The exhibition also features a selection of Malani’s artist books, which emphasize the importance of drawing and painting to her practice.
Malani was trained as a painter at the Sir Jamsetjee Jeejebhoy School of Art in Mumbai (1964–1969). She became known in India in the 1980s as a pioneer for her focus on feminist issues, and later in the early 1990s for her innovative theater and installation projects. The artist often draws upon stories from Hindu and Greek mythology, nineteenth-century so-called literary nonsense writing, and early twentieth-century experimental theater to create allegories for present day events.
The exhibition is curated by Michelle Yun, Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, Asia Society.
Support
Support for Asia Society Museum is provided by Asia Society Contemporary Art Council, Asia Society Friends of Asian Arts, Arthur Ross Foundation, Sheryl and Charles R. Kaye Endowment for Contemporary Art Exhibitions, Hazen Polsky Foundation, New York State Council on the Arts, and New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.
Find out more here.
Watch a video interview with the artist here.
