Lot 96: Atul Bhalla (B. 1964)

Atul Bhalla (B. 1964)
Wash Water Blood
signed in Hindi (lower right)
digital print on archival paper
20 x 13 in. (50.8 x 33 cm.) each
Executed in 2007; number four from an edition of five plus two artist proofs
Set of twenty two photographs (22)

An edition of this work has been exhibited at the following:
London, Aicon Gallery, ...within/without..., May 2008
New Delhi, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Relocating Masculinities, December 2007
Noida, Anant Art Centre, Atul Bhalla, March 2007

An edition of this work has been published in the following:
D. Nath, 'Water Stories: Of discarded objects, caustic sustenance and communal drinking taps', ...within/without..., exhibition catalogue, Aicon Gallery, London, 2008, (illustrated, unpaginated)
Mohd. Ahmad Sabih, Rahul Dev, Srinayani, T. Sanathanan, Relocating Masculinities: An exhibition of Photographs and Video Art, exhibition catalogue, Jawarharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, 2007, pp. 16-17 (illustrated)
S. Sawant, 'Re-Marking the River, lanscapes by Atul Bhalla', Atul Bhalla, exhibition catalogue, Anant Art Centre, Noida, 2007, pp. 8-10 (illustrated)

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Atul Bhalla is a multi-disciplinary artist whose works and ideas engage in the exploration of water in its various manifestations, be it physical, emotive, historical, religious or political. Bhalla refocuses attention to the cultural meanings and associations of water which have been misplaced in a modern industrialised society. In many ways, his environmental concerns (see also MCD Taps, 2007, Lot 36) strive to capture the spirit of mankind's relationship with nature and its inevitable shifts within a fragile ecosystem.

Wash Water Blood documents the remnants of Atul Bhalla's performance piece conceived during his artist residency in the walled city of old Delhi. Broadened through twenty two prints, the work encapsulates a ritual after an act that remains mysterious. Hands are being scrubbed clean of blood, with water that gushes and trickles at intervals and the process is visually mesmerising in its suggestion of something violent and Shakespearean. The performance, a seminal point in the artist's career, was entitled Mashk (2005) which is a traditional water carrier made from a goat's hide and conventionally, a 'Bhishti' ('life-giver' in Urdu) would provide free drinking water from these containers to travellers. Bhalla had learned how to slaughter a goat in the Halal manner, under the instructions of a Qureshi butcher. The project spoke of sacrificial acts as means to preserve life but additionally, to that of water being a catalyst of change and transferal.

Bhalla wrote in his concept note about the undertaking ... a city within a city reveals thousands of cities inside. The idea is to intervene or understand the space, the city we live in, more closely with expanded artistic equipments. In this process we might even rethink and question the possibilities of our common practices to produce a work of art. The intention is to interact among the people around in order to understand certain social norms and ways of life which contribute to contemporary culture to be alive ...