Of pots, pans and identities

It’s not every day that Kolkata’s streets see bare-chested androgynous creatures covered in black paint and heads encased in kitchen bric-a-brac and bamboo baskets. Their shapely pins in high heels aroused as much curiosity as the purpose of their presence outside the iconic Flury’s tea room on Park Street and other busy locations on November 10, a Saturday afternoon. While some onlookers clicked selfies with these quizzical beings, others tried to hazard a guess about the brand behind the “commercial”. Yet others were heard wondering aloud if aliens had finally invaded the city.

The creator of this live installation, scenographer and photographer Swarup Dutta (40), offered no answers, no stories. But was happy that his creations, part of his solo photography project titled ‘KAW’, had served its purpose: That of making heads turn.

“Every one was surprised and despite their best efforts to decipher what was going on, could not figure it out. It piqued their curiosity. You could not put these creatures into boxes. And that was the purpose,” says Dutta on the eve of the exhibition going live at Akar Prakar, a prominent art gallery in the city. The idea, says Dutta, was to strip art of its elitist garb, remove it from the confines of a gallery and place it in an unrelated context, on the streets, to see how people react to it.

Comprising photographs and live installations, ‘KAW’ is a series of three bodies of work: ‘Khelna-bati’ (play set), ‘Armour of Weaknesses’ and ‘Otherworldly’. Just like the figures that Dutta sent out on the streets, the models in the gallery have their heads encased in kitchen and other household props and oversized toy sets. The nudes are seen grappling with cages and other restrictive frames.

Each segment questions established ideas about androgyny, sexual markers and identity as the creatures play with their bodies and kitchen props. The onlooker is left questioning his or her understanding of gender, the human body and its imagined and real boundaries.

‘KAW’ is probably one of Dutta’s most provocative and political works yet. “We live in a bubble. Telling ourselves that everything is okay. But the voices in your head bring in a sense of unease. And sometimes these questions about identity, sexuality, nudity pop out of the closet and you have no choice but to address them,” he says. Dutta adds that the genesis of ‘KAW’ comes from the first Bengali consonant that marks all rhetorical questions — ki (what), ke (who), keno (why), kokhon (when), kothay (where) and ki bhabey (how).

Dutta’s ‘KAW’ also questions the concept of nudity at a time when the body “has been highly sexualised, objectified, and rarely seen in its natural form. My take on the nude body questions this pornographic perception of the body and this gaze. For me nudity is as playful as the time you simply walk out of the shower and throw your clothes away.”

NIFT alumnus Dutta has also worked on fashion projects for leading designers such as Sabyasachi, Anamika Khanna, Kiran Uttam Ghosh and Kallol Dutta, creating photo essays, promotional strategies and installation art. He acknowledges that his work with the fashion industry seeded the questions that led to the idea of ‘KAW’. “Formal education empowers you. But it also subjugates you. When you work in the fashion industry you are surrounded with images that are unattainable,” he says, elaborating on how he began to question the idea of sexual identity and nudity.

Dutta makes a strong case for conceptual fashion, that does not hesitate to question or put across an opinion on the politics of gender, identify, community and culture. But he also defends the designers who have “no choice but to adhere to the commercial aspect of fashion design.”

“Our fashion industry is still in its nascent stage and the consumers, too, are not ready for anything that is experimental or quirky. Which is why you have some of the most talented designers playing it safe,” he says, adding that a few have a sense of humour that reveals itself only to the discerning eye. He speaks of a leading designer who is a favourite of the celebrities, who on a rare occasion, was cheeky enough to sew cockroaches on the hems of his red-carpet worthy clothes.

Meanwhile, in Kolkata, Dutta is happy to shake things up in his own way, as his creatures challenge the status quo, in their pots, pans and stilettos.

‘KAW’ is on view till December 14 at Kolkata’s Akar Prakar Gallery

Chandrima Pal is a freelance writer based in Kolkata

COMMENT NOW