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Indian Express

In Pune, how red dots and elephants are leading the way into memories

The work, Red Dot, is intended to stir an intimate memory of every woman who comes across it. It has emerged from a personal experience of artist Minal Parkhi – of her first period when her mother gave her a folded cloth to use. Red Dot recreates the impression of blood stains on the cloth, except that the recurring patterns in the work are made using cow dung and red thread. Red Dot is a part of the exhibition, Thassa: The Mark of Being, at Monalisa Kalagram in Pune till May 14. Parkhi, who completed her art diploma from Abhinav Kala Mahavidyalaya, is moved by a deep motivation for almost every aspect of work. The cow dung that is a common medium can be traced not only to Parkhi's childhood in Induri village near Talegaon, where her family lived in 'mitti ka ghar' and used cow dung on the floors, but also to gender politics. 'It is always the women who work with cow dung, whether it is related to rituals or the work of making cow dung cakes. I thought that cow dung was an appropriate medium to depict the experiences of women,' says Parkhi. Parkhi, who completed her art diploma from Abhinav Kala Mahavidyalaya, is moved by a deep motivation for almost every aspect of work. (Express Photo) The other notable influence is the elephant made from colourful waste cloth. Parkhi goes back to the Covid-19 years when she and her husband returned from Dubai, where they had been staying, to India. Surrounded by the fear of the global pandemic, when just trying to stay alive and safe became of paramount importance, Parkhi wondered if it wasn't possible to make art beyond the demands of acrylic and canvas. She noticed that the neighbourhood tailoring shop routinely burnt or discarded large bags of waste clothes. These became her medium, and an elephant form took shape. It's a work that has kept growing and acquired meanings. 'I like the impression of weight that an elephant conveys. It is an apt symbolism of the burden of waste that the planet is enduring. When we get a suit stitched, do we bother about the waste that we generate?' she says. The medium of using waste and sustainable elements, including cow dung, has become her message. An installation shows two women forms, once again made from rags, sitting together, their featureless faces surveying each other. One of the women is nude, the other covered in colours of waste fabric. 'The nude figure represents a woman from a red light area while the other is from a 'good family'. It is strange how women judge each other,' says the artist. There is a third chair as well that is empty. It is an item that almost every family has – something that was once used by a deceased person and holds their memories. Parkhi's way of working verges on the meditative, where she is driven by impulses rather than conscious thoughts. 'I get a lot of feedback that the works stir feelings in the viewers,' she says.