 Water Weaving, 2005 color video still, sound on DVD, 18 minutes 50 seconds Navjot Altaf Water Weaving Talwar Gallery is pleased to present, "Water Weaving", a new film work by Navjot Altaf. "The germ of Navjot Altaf's film, "Water Weaving", lies in a creation myth recounted to the artist by the weaver Sukhman. But, in interpreting Sukhman's tale in the film medium, Navjot does not merely develop a linear account of the unfolding events of the myth. Instead, her mode of interpretation is one that abstracts associations and explores the resonances that primal images can set off; in her film, we experience a pattern of symbolically resonant images. "Water Weaving" is charged with archetypal energy: the lunatic silver of water signaling lustration; the feverish golden orb of the sun hinting at the cosmic egg, the "hiranyagarbha" of the Vedic hymns; and the river stained sapphire-blue by passing clouds signaling rebirth and regeneration. Above all, Navjot's film is sustained by the recurrent, interweaving frames in which warp crosses weft to generate fabric - underscoring the action of the male and female principles, this image permits the artist to reflect on the play of opposites from which all creation proceeds." (Nancy Adajania) Navjot's interest in modes of art practices and social concerns has allowed her to pursue several collaborative and cooperative art projects over the last two decades. In 1994 in the aftermath of the Bombay communal riots she worked in Mumbai with two documentary filmmakers and a classical vocalist for "Links Destroyed and Rediscovered"; in 1998 she created a sculptural and video installation, "Modes of Parallel Practice: Ways of World Making" with indigenous artists from Bastar and since been engaged with them for a number of collaborative site-specific art projects. Following the riots in Ahmedabad in 2002 her film, "Lacuna in Testimony" while eliciting the testimonies of the affected questioned the inherent shortcomings of such authentication process. Navjot was born in 1949 in Meerut, India. She completed her Art education from J.J. School of Art in Bombay. Navjot's works were included in 1999 in the First Fukuoka Triennale in Fukuoka, Japan; in "Century City" at Tate Modern, London in 2001; in "subTerrain" at House of World Culture, Berlin, Germany and at the 8th Havana Biennale in Havana, Cuba in 2003. Currently her installation "Water Water" is on view in "Groundworks", an environmental collaboration in contemporary art at the Carnegie Mellon University Galleries in Pittsburgh, PA. Navjot has been invited to participate in the upcoming XV Sydney Biennale in 2006. Navjot lives and works in Bastar and Mumbai, India. Exhibition: November 19 - December 21, 2005 Gallery hours: Tues-Sat 11am - 6pm Talwar Gallery 108 East 16 Street USA-New York, NY 10003 Telephone +1 212 673 3096 Fax + 1 212 673 3097 Email mail@talwargallery.com www.talwargallery.com |
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