Not an object of desire

Radhika Khimji, artists, solo exhibition, female body, installments, drawing, multimedia artworks, Artefacts from Below, Mumbai Guide

Indian-Omani artist Radhika Khimji has been inspired by the human body and its various interpretations understood by diverse societies all over the world. Her first solo exhibition in the city, Artefacts from Below, is a series of installations including sculptural cut-out works, mixed media collages, and drawings.

The installation, Somewhat Upright by artist Radhika Khimji

She plays around with the idea of the human body by hollow it out and producing silhouettes or two-dimensional renderings instead. Highlighting the absence of flesh, Khimji uses colour to again underline emptiness or absence as well as an absorption or saturation. Thus, in the gallery's words, Khimji's works are called, "artefact from below the surface of the skin."

Pulling outwards. Pics courtesy/Radhika Khimji

Between the lines
Playing with the space of the gallery, Khimji has filled it with imposing cut-outs, bound together with spools of wool creating a maze-like experience for the viewer.

Doubling and tripling in motion

The artist has laid great stress on the female body-male gaze equation and thus has hollowed them out to create a different kind of territory.

A Moon Above Me, pen, ink, pencil, thread on paper, 8 x 10.2 inches

In juxtaposition, the multimedia drawings contain images of Classical Greek and Roman statues and the female nude throughout history.

Installation view by Radhika Khimji

The Muscat-born artist aimed to desexualise the female body and has contextualised it into an architectural frame.

Pulling out and away

Her endeavour was abstaining from the feminine ideal that is invoked by the body, explains the 35-year-old.

Thin Skin

Artist Radhika Khimji

Playing with the gallery's space, Khimji has filled it with cut-outs, bound together with spools of wool creating a maze-like experience for the viewer.

(With inputs from Kanika Sharma)