Nalini Malani

Chicagoans haven’t had much of an opportunity to become familiar with contemporary Indian art. Lucky for us, Mumbai-based contemporary-art pioneer Nalini Malani’s solo show (and her inclusion in the Cultural Center’s current Indiacentric exhibition) makes up for lost time in a big way. “Mother India” features three visceral, politically charged videos investigating both the female body as a site of nationalistic violence and cycles of brutality in her native land. 

The titular video installation, Mother India: Transactions in the Construction of Pain, focuses on the abuse of women during two periods of political conflict: the Partition of India (1947) and the Gujarat genocide (2002). Black-and-white historical images of a flapping Indian flag appear on four channels as a youthful Gandhi darts onto the center screen. Red-washed imagery floods all five channels, rows of women weaving as a voice shrieks, “Get off of me!” and the face of an estranged Indian girl suddenly appears. Archival and contemporary images of Indian people are mixed in with corporate Coca-Cola logos, drawings of female Hindu goddesses, and a sacred cow with illuminated guts until the video closes with four flashing images of destruction and a gritty photo of Gandhi dead. 

Stains is a meditation on cycles of violence. Splotches of white, red and beige suggest body fluids, mucous and secretions that bubble up and are washed away as nauseating, gurgling noises pulsate. Unidentified, crude, white human figures in states of unrest appear and disappear into the murk until a bomb explodes everything.

Malani’s videos kick us right in the gut, and their imagery seeps deep into our memory.—Alicia Eler