Trap Your Skin Analysis

Koumudi Patil explores the notion of the individuals and the influence of the global economy on them. She traces the manner in which individuals get engulfed by the growing aspects of commoditisation and consumerism, two factors which have been the core characters of global economy. This is understood through the projected notion of ‘personal care’, which were meant to cater to the needs of an individual. This perspective is an outcome of her long-standing concern with the notion of human skin and its varied connotations. In Wrap Your Skin, 2009, the skin is portrayed as the first point of contact and a terrain of identity formation. Keeping the same as the base, she tries to project as to what could be considered as a ‘global type’ or ‘universal

Movie clips and advertisements focusing on the notions of ‘ideal beauty’ are projected in the one channel video. The advertisements, as is their purpose, projects the need of flawlessness of the skin as truth, which evidently is a hypothetical concept. These causes were moulded to cater to the insecurities of local Indians, being about the darker skin, marital acceptance and rejection, or general rejections based on the lack of the ideal, flawless beauty type. At the same time, the edge of the screen shows a cut-out from some magazine, mentioning something about winners. Patil tries to highlight the attitude of persistent bombarding of news, thoughts or beliefs, at times false notions by the media, such that eventually the viewers become numb to the difference and accept it as truth, by projecting the same image through multiple windows on the same screen. One is reminded of Baudrillard and the notion of simulacra and repetition; such that the image and the repetition of the same, becomes a part of a make-believe system and eventually succeeds. This brings us back to the revolution of the ICT and the liberalisation of the Indian economy. The 1990s was also the time when the Indian television sets, witnessed the entry of large number international private channels, telecasting serials, news, entertainment programs, and advertisements from different countries. Unlike the earlier, government controlled,

The title draws from a near medical understanding, whereas the work seems to be derived from the Indian classical sculptural traditions. The sculpture, two bronze sculptures, of females, with the supple body, evidently of the Chola period, stand facing each other. A huge log of wood separates them, as it passes in between their faces, which are the supporting elements of the log. Through their faces runs the supporting lever. A closer look at the huge log, reveals the presence of coins, as though hammered into it. Reminding one of the age-old tradition, of doing the same as a part of a wish fulfilling superstition; especially related to those of financial security. The sheer material richness and the ambiguity of the work creates a sense of apparition. The work seems to be visually closed, as the sculptures don’t face the viewers, but invariably call them to take a closer look. To counter this sense of an isolated and independent presence is a gallery, Tallur strikes a sense of involvement from the viewers, as he invites them to touch, feel and ‘work’ on the work. He does this keeping in mind the wish fulfilling ritual and