Internal Speech

Kedar Namdas

Responding to the deeper reality of human psyche, I visualise a state of abnormal consciousness in my work where dream-like experiences take place on the two dimensional surface of prints and canvases. With the use of the free association of different mediums to express the rational order of life, I try to depict objects that normally or rationally do not fit together. My process of creation began as an art student in Mumbai and Baroda, the cities that exposed me to nuanced social realities and my experience of ‘otherness’. This influenced my internal thought processes. It induced me to move away from the portrayal of the self and bodily experiences and enabled to undertake a deeper enquiry into the bleak side of human behaviour.

My attempt is to reflect on the gruesome realities of life by using surreal human figures, distorted human anatomy, and mutated organs and faces. Sometimes, I depict headless human bodies with dissected or contorted vital body organs to portray the horrid emotions or violent reactions of human beings in response to their surroundings. The idea is to focus on the inequalities and social malice faced by people in anticipation to suggest a change. I imagine the deformed figures assaulting each other, or actively engaging in violent acts work as the metaphors for ugliness and hideousness of human mind caught in social hierarchies.

The exploration of a medium is important for me. This may include a painting on canvas or a video projection on an actual body part of a living being preserved with chemical processes. My work-processes and medium are determined by the content of my work. In the series of works in Baroda executed in 2014, I used intestines of goat, animal blood, clay model, woodcut print, digital display combined with audio, etchings, collages, and paintings. In the work titled Internal speech, I worked with Arduino[1], motion sensors and the motor on the traditionally painted woodcut process. My idea was to create an interactive work where a microcontroller built the interactive object and allowed the viewer to be in dialogue with the installation work. In The Scream, I combined dry point medium with mediums like water motor – Arduino and sounds of everyday objects or actions that affect us deeply. 

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