Art meets conversations around mental health at this exhibition

How do we use language to express ourselves? How do we share experiences of trauma, joy and respite? When do we speak loudly for ourselves and when do we whisper?

This exhibition titled ‘Mindscapes: In the company of others’ intends to locate spaces where spoken language can take the shape of thoughts, actions and gestures. Bringing together ideas, stories, and reflections that have developed over the course of the Mindscapes programme (an international cultural programme about mental health), the exhibit features jointly produced works by Mindscapes Bengaluru artist-in-residence Indu Antony and the women of Lingarajapuram.

As part of the project, Antony initiated a series of workshops in Lingarajapuram just before the second wave of the pandemic. These workshops were engagements with women settled in the neighbourhood who gathered in anganwadis (courtyard shelters for child care) and hand stitched stories in cloth while contemplating questions of identity and well-being.

Working with them, she produced an array of artworks, including some that are autobiographical, an archive of daily objects and a large skirt woven with the life stories the women shared. And to sustain the conversation on mental health after her workshops with women staying in Lingarajapuram, Antony set up Namma Katte (Kannada for “Our Space”), which serves as a venue for conversation, play and rest, chiefly for the women and children of the neighbourhood.

“Mindscapes is a program that started two years back. They were looking for artists who have worked in similar spaces and that’s how it came to me. The project has been a great learning experience for me. When I started working on this, it was important for me to take in my previous work as well. My biggest learning has been the power of community. It helped me understand myself more, the people with me and around me with much more clarity," says Indu Antony, a transdisciplinary artist whose work primarily explores the relationship between gender and space through the feminist lens, which takes the shape of performances and installations.

The exhibition is opened in three locations across Bengaluru- Museum of Art and Photography (MAP Bengaluru), Antony’s studio space Kanike in Cooke town; and Namma Katte. Alongside Antony’s works, the exhibition will showcase the works of Cecilie Wagner Falkenstrom, Mindscape's international artist-in-residence titled ‘I see it, so you don’t have to’.