Topping my mental list for things to do when I move to Toronto was to visit art galleries, libraries and museums. I have always enjoyed being around art and finding meaning in it.
Unfortunately, due to social distancing amidst the COVID-19 crisis, all these places have been closed temporarily in line with Ontario public health directives.
This harsh reality made me reflect on the art I had previously encountered when I used to visit art exhibitions and fairs in my city, New Delhi.
One artist who instantly caught my attention was Tayeba Begum Lipi.
I first came across her work in India Art Fair and I was totally mesmerized by the sheer intricacy, bareness and robustness of the work. My interpretation of her work was that it represented the ‘corset-ed’ life a woman lives playing multiple roles, clothing as a formidable shield and the stoic courage in women.
The choice of razors and safety pins as the medium was very fascinating to me. On reading about her work, I found that the reason behind it was that she wanted to represent violence faced by women in Bangladesh as well as referencing tools used in childbirth in the more underdeveloped parts of the country. Somehow, I also felt that the object also presented a critique of the horrifying practice of female circumcision or female genital mutilation.
Her husband and fellow artist, Mahbubur Rahman inspired her to make her own blades, shape and bend the tool in her ways. Despite personalizing the objects for over two years, the artist feels distant from them. “…I have been working with objects that I feel to be really intimate yet are not intimate to me…There is a distance between me and the object, yet at the same time, I feel close to them.”
“…I have been working with objects that I feel to be really intimate yet are not intimate to me…There is a distance between me and the object, yet at the same time, I feel close to them.”
Indeed, this selection and the themes she refers to in her work demonstrate a unique balance of strength and delicacy. Furthermore, the politics of distance and intimacy are projected by showing the interior lives of women yet maintaining a metal exterior that restrains closeness. Coincidentally, the viewer is tempted to touch the fragile surface of the artwork yet keep away from its sharp edges, in the same way, we feel like escaping self-isolation and feeling the outside world, but we are trapped in fear.
Stainless steel razor blades and stainless steel
60 × 65 × 15 in
152.4 × 165.1 × 38.1 cm
Credits: Sundaram Tagore Gallery
Yet the shiny reflection of superficiality in her sculptures to depict the hardships faced by women is alluring. The manipulation of violent materials that women may use daily like safety pins to make everyday objects like a bed, handbag, corset, bra and so on to showcase strength and resilience is revolutionary. It provides a glimpse of the disguised mettle in us to brave the current circumstances.
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