Archives at the National Centre for Biological Sciences
Art – Archives Engagement
Mother, take good care of me
Megha Jairaj
4:00 – 6:00 PM
On weekdays, Jan 20 - Jan 29 2021
Off on weekends//holidays
At the Campus Main Lawn
About the exhibition:
I remember playing ‘house’ with my neighbourhood friend when I was about six years old. She was a year younger than me. We got along well. She wanted to be the mother and I, the father. We were the perfect duo. Ever so often, we would tie our mothers’ dupattas around our heads for ‘pretend hair’ to make up for the short haircuts we were given. Playing in my room, we would feel shy if someone walked in during the act.
I question the spirit of play, where one puts up an act of pretence of one thing for something else. In this exhibition, I make my workshop visible to the public to allow a deeper look into the practice of making (here, play). The workshop constructed within a box is also the space that displays fragments of work. The fragments collected in the box stand on the premise of memory. A dream logic of jumps and shifts, like an archive by its very nature characterised by pauses, gaps. And so there is no linearity in this narration. It is a montage made to remain honest to the exhaustion of an idea, any idea. The fragments collected in the box aspire to expand a certain consciousness about remembrance, and in today preparing for tomorrow.
About the artist:
Megha Jairaj is an artist who graduated from Srishti school of Art, Design and Technology in 2019. She has been working at the Archives at NCBS from October 2020 where she sees it as a space that fosters her work and reimagines her practice. She primarily works in needlework and note-making that helped shape her methods and ideas. Her work is presented in a wooden box, which is also her workshop. She can be contacted at tjmegha@gmail.com
COVID-19 Precautions:
The artist and her work will be at the campus main lawn, near the walkway. Do stop by, masked and ready to see the exhibition! There will also be a sanitizer bottle handy. If you see another visitor already at the exhibition, please do maintain distance and drop by one at a time. There’s plenty of space to walk around in the meantime! Let’s see and talk art.
4:00 – 6:00 PM
On weekdays, Jan 20 - Jan 29 2021
Off on weekends//holidays
At the Campus Main Lawn
