Blue Nostalgia
2004, Video
Duration � 8.18 minutes
Monali Meher
Blue Nostalgia
2004, Video
Duration � 8.18 minutes
In her performative work, Monali Meher, a Mumbai based artist currently living in Amsterdam, Netherlands, is concerned with converting daily activates into ceremonial acts, celebrating her body in her own personal ritual. In Blue Nostalgia, Monali uses her body to communicate the personal memories of longing and belonging, also commenting on female stereotyping within Indian society. Using the color blue, along with a meditative soundtrack to indicate a state of mind, Monali uses this piece to bridge the past with the present.
Shot in Mumbai in a street salon, Blue Nostalgia alludes to the everyday act of massaging, which evokes within her memories of her childhood, home and the familiar. However, while engaging in the massage, she is suddenly made aware of the intimacy underlined within this routine act and its taking place in a public sphere. In the sudden realisation that her mother�s hand has been replaced by that of stranger, she becomes conscious of the boundaries she has transgressed between the private and public and from the familiar to the unfamiliar. Nevertheless, Monali reconciles herself to enjoying the experience and the touch of the male masseur, being unabashed, transgressing new boundaries. She uses the camera lens as a mirror, where she meets with the self-gaze, gazing out at the public, seemingly viewing herself through the eye of the viewer enjoying the moment and looking ahead into the future.
Monali Meher was born 1969 in Pune, India and graduated with B.F.A. in Painting, Sir J.J. School of Arts, in Mumbai. She was awarded the �UNESCO--ASCHBERG� award and a Rijksakademie residency in 1998 and 2000. She has held several solo exhibitions including-�Bio-Morphosis�, Lakeeren Art Gallery, Bombay, 1996.� Untitled�, F.I.A. Gallery, Amsterdam, 1998.�Reflect�,(A Personal Window Display), Lakeeren Art Gallery, Bombay & Gallery Juttner, Vienna, 1998, �Theatre Of Memory", Lakeeren Art Gallery, Bombay, 1999 and �Ceremony�, Artkitchen gallery, Amsterdam, 2004. "Bollywood Has Arrived", Amsterdam, 2001. "Labyrinths", Asian Art-Biennale d'Art Contemporanea, Genoa, 2001�Moist�, Art Asia Pacific, Multi Media Art Festival, Beijing, 2002.She has held several performances all over the world including �Protected Reflection' Lakeeren Art Gallery, Bombay, 1999. �Non-Repeating Loop�, Rijksakademie, Amsterdam, 2000."Camouflage", Nehru Centre, London, 2001.�Practising Nostalgia� & �Old Fashioned�, CEIA , Belo Horizonte, Brazil.�An Auspicious One�, Artkitchen Gallery, Amsterdam, 2004. Workshops & Participation-"Performer & Mediated Image", Monte Video, Amsterdam, organized by Amsterdam-Maastrich Summer University,2001.-Participated in Performance workshop with Marina Abramovic, Rijksakademie, Amsterdam, 2001.
