Lot 21: Ashim Purkayastha , He is Not my Enemy acrylic on canvas

inscribed and dated 'HE IS NOT MY ENEMY/ 2004' on canvas along top stretcher bar on reverse acrylic on canvas

measurements 65 3/4 by 60 in. alternate measurements 167 by 152.2 cm.

Attached Wings, Ashim Purkayastha, Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai, 2004

executed 2004
Ashim's work is concerned with his identity as a Bengali-speaking Assamese. His family belonged to the district of Sylhet that was divided into two during Partition with one part of the region remaining in Bangladesh the other half in the district of Assam in India. This area of North-east India is culturally misunderstood by many Indians and neglected by central government who over the past few decades have withheld resources and favoured military options over political dialogue. This exclusion and marginalization of the region is represented in Ashim's work by highlighting 'the dilemmas and tensions of operating in a border territory' (Ranjit Hoskote, Margin/alia: A Response to Ashim Purkayastha's Recent Works, 2004). Ashim utilizes symbols of the Republic; the revenue stamp, the matchbox label and the postage stamp and questions their authority and significance, 'exploring the hidden politics of the everyday'. (ibid). In the current work titled He Is Not My Enemy, he uses a large format postage stamp bearing the image of Mahatma Gandhi. The artist's inclusion of himself alongside Gandhi, revered in India as the 'Father of the Nation' represents his 'assertion of his right to dissent from the symbolic discourses of a nation-state that excludes him.' (ibid)