Welcome to Art and Charlie
We are committed to exploring what lies beyond the white cube.
We started as a nomadic gallery that curated shows at different venues across Mumbai, and grew to showcase at Mumbai Gallery Weekend in 2021 alongside more-established art houses. During the pandemic, we pivoted to a fully virtual art platform, and are now a full service art gallery in Bandra, the heart of Mumbai’s creative consciousness.
We represent contemporary visual artists from South Asia whose practices add to anthropological discourses of our time.
Preview - 26th September, Thursday, 6pm onwards. On view till 18th October 2024
‘Abundance in the void’
Osheen Siva
Rooted in the ethos of Dalit futurism, this exhibition confronts and seeks to transform the arbitrary structure of caste through a narrative of mutation and hybridity. The characters serve as a metaphor, challenging the assigned social places and established histories by embodying non-binary fluidity.
Coming from a lineage of farmers in the artists’ na:ve Tiruvannamalai in Tamil Nadu, nature plays a recurring mo:f in the exhibition. Acting as a dual symbol, conveying both fruitfulness and abundance alongside the trauma associated with labor and bondage. It is wielded to both justify the position of the oppressed and exert power over them, creating a complex dialogue on the relationship between nature and social hierarchy.
Central to the exhibition is also the reclamation and reinvention of mythologies, particularly critiquing Hindu scriptures and ancient Sanskrit texts that perpetuate the discrimination of lower-caste individuals. The artworks expose the historical legitimation of caste slavery through these myths and call for a conscious resistance against the hegemonic Brahmanical spirituality that has upheld oppressive environments for millennia. Aiming to restore alternate timelines and ancestral traces, the exhibition champions bodily autonomy. In a deliberate act of countering the prevailing lack of positive imagery associated with Dalit communities, Siva disseminates affirmative depictions, envisioning a future that transcends existing stereotypes.
Past Exhibition Catalogues
Selected Artworks
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