International Multimedia Art Festival
Curated by Nenad Bogdanovic
5th September 2020 
The idea was to bring in the mundane the world in central perspective. From March 2020 the whole world is facing a very critical and stressful pandemic period of lockdown and unlocking and again lockdown followed by surrounded and in containment zone. I see altogether a different indoor world from an ordinary point of view, it is many worlds within the world. During this span of five months, I have done several performance interventions responding to reacting and contemplating of the immediate situation encountered both psychologically and philosophically. As a woman who has to fulfil all the domestic responsibilities and also look after aliening mother, I somehow find contemplating space within these territories transcend both physical and mental space by finding deeper meaning in the mundane act of repetitions of same work to filter both conscious and subconscious mind just like a Japanese Buddhist monk who believed that to transcend if they do thousand Day Circumambulation to Mt. Omine they will attain enlightenment they considered it as a kind of shortcut to wisdom.
Through this performative intervention, I bring varied layers within the spaces of folding and unfolding of cloths and its stories it will be sound-based performative work for a 30 minutes intervention. Different clothes have different yarns and different scent attached to it with memories and which strikes on emotions kindles mind to wonder in these memories. It is kind of ritual folding bedsheets to folding clothes and way one arranges them all talks illustrates nature and state of mind you are in that particular time. A chaotic house talks of the unstable and restless mind and organized well arrange mind talk about persons psychological state.
'A performative view of ritual acknowledges the emotions and heightened moments of self-awareness experienced by persons engaged in ritual acts. As Stewart and Strathern (2014) state, "The embodied participation of persons in rituals not only influences them in bodily ways but becomes the actual vehicle by which metaphorical meanings are created and credited with efficacy" A Ritual of Transcendence is a visually poetic and metaphoric act through this I attempt to Finding profoundness in the mundane is a route to transcendence. This work is processed with Jain and Buddhist philosophies to attain enlightenment. I explore, nurture, experience and share this same profound bliss through my work. It is an attempt to traverse through visual poetic narratives.
Dimple B Shah 5th September 2020
