Flying Trunk - Stories We Share
05.10.24-28.09.25
Debjani Bhardwaj
Debjani Bhardwajs (IND, 1968) is preoccupied with universal and geospecific tales, myths and folklore about human eksistence and hybridities. She explores where we split and are reunited across country borders and cultures - and societies’ collective memory.
Story narratives are an eternal component in Bhardwajs artistic practice. She was originally inspired by stories from India - ancient legends about Mahabarata and the jungle. Later she started exploring stories of the rest of Asia and Europe, working from the theory that stories represent a society’s norms and values.
Bhardwaj create intricate psaligraphies, shadow boxes and installations in paper, in which bizarre, dreamlike scenarios unfold. She fluctuates between the real and the imaginary and take the watcher on a journey through false memories, liberation, fear and self-preservation. Through this she investigates, where we split and reunite across country borders and cultures, as well as the authenticity of societies’ collective memory. Through countries’ mythologies and folklore, Bhardwaj seek for relationships between conditions of humans of the the present and the legends, that shaped them.
According to Bhardwaj stories are created by both fantasy and reality. As culturebearing elements, they reflect a society’s memories, mythologies and practices. They connect people and shows their urges and instincts. With the exhibit Bhardwaj explores the complexity in a society’s collective memory - what is real and what is imaginary - and delve into a cosmos of new and old legends. The pieces refer to traditional folklore in their fantastical scenes and menagerie of characters, performing both impossible and possible deeds, but at the same time create new stories and mythologies. While some characters are recognizable, others are incomprehensible hybrid creatures - common for them is their ability to raise a mirror to ourselves and the stories, which has shaped us.
Bhardwaj is born and raised in Kolkata, India. In 1995 she completed her studies at the Birla institute of Technology (IND), and in 2016 she acquired an MA in Fine Art from The Open College of Arts (GB). Since then she has exhibited in over 50 solo and group exhibits at, among others, Tashkeel (UAE), XVA Gallery (UAE), Art Centrix Space (IND) and CAA Art Museum (CN).
The exhibit is supported by: The Ministry of Culture Denmark, The A.P. Moller Foundation, New Carlsberg Foundation, Ole Kirk’s Fond, Danish Arts Foundation.