A Visit To Poulomi Basu's 'Fireflies' At The East Gallery
Updated: Nov 23, 2023
Thumbnail Design: Bethany Hutchison
Image Credit: Bethany Hutchison (left & right) Poulomi Basu (center)
Ripped paper texture: Adobe Stock
On a cold autumnal afternoon there’s no better way to spark your creativity than to take a walk and seek refuge in a cosy and inviting exhibition. On a Thursday afternoon after grocery shopping with friends, I decided to take my own advice and took the short walk to The East Gallery in Norwich to look at the newest exhibition Fireflies by Poulomi Basu. Upon arriving at the exhibition space, I was greeted by a member of the East Gallery team. Beside her, on the wall, was a prologue of the exhibition in which I was about to immerse myself in.
The Fireflies exhibition was created by Poulomi Basu, an Indian artist and activist, known for her advocative work revolving around marginalised women. A common theme of her work is the relationship between mother and daughter alongside the experiences of, predominately, patriarchal violence and trauma. Basu also focuses on the unique discrimination and the oppression faced by those of ecological, racial, cultural, political and personal circumstances. With a focus on those within the global south (such as the artist herself). Basu provides those who are deliberately silenced with an element of agency. Basu experiments with the way in which she highlights this relationship whether that be through photography, video or audio. Through her photography, videos and audio Basu explores and ultimately navigates challenging themes such as domestic claustrophobia and her dreams of freedom, defiance and transcendence. Basu believes that her exhibition is a chance for her to ‘tell [her] story of resistance and stand in solidarity with the women who have opened their lives to [her]’. (Vora, 2023) (Unknown I, 2022) (Unknown II, 2023) (Unknown III, 2023)
Before entering the area in which the work was displayed a vast darkly light corridor stood before me. By walking through this corridor, I was given the ability to detach from the hustle and bustle of the outside and to focus on the work in which I was about to see before me. Whilst walking through the corridor I started to hear slight audio filtering through the space yet again helping me to mentally transition into Basu’s shoes and immerse myself within her practise.
Upon entering the room, I was met with multiple vulnerable images of both Basu and her Mother naked and in barren, desolate and isolated natural environments. This immediately set a somewhat eerie tone which was underpinned further by a short film (made in collaboration with film-maker CJ Clarke) of a sinister back lit masked individual clad in white garments. Paired with the soundscape initially heard through the corridor an otherworldly and uncomfortable environment was created. I believe that the combination of the film and the sound scape may have been utilised by the artist in order to underpin the struggles faced by Basu, her mother and femininity in general. Throughout her exhibition Basu sets to remind individuals of the agency in which their body holds reflecting that ‘there is so much pain, anxiety and fear behind most women [she] ha[s] met in [her] life, including [herself]’. (Vora, 2023)
In the centre of the exhibition there was suspended a series of sheer blue luminous glaciers which were arranged in an arc shape composition. Whilst reading the preamble for the exhibition these pieces were alluded to and described as a ‘portal to a parallel world, a silhouette discernible within the densely layered ice’. These glaciers were framed in front of a celestial background which helped to shape continuity between the other compositions within the exhibition.
Upon writing this blog post (19.10.23) Basu’s website is currently under construction and I am therefore unable to find the titles for her imagery as they were not displayed at the exhibition. However, one of my favourite pieces from the exhibition was a rear-view composition of Basu crouching in a cold, snowy and overgrown area with her arms outstretched upwards to cling onto a wall made of naturally occurring
materials. By using the rule of thirds Basu has been captured in the centre of the composition. However, she is not in the foreground and is instead captured in the
middle ground. Height is used as a narrative tool within this composition to give a sense of claustrophobia and power with the overgrown elements of the environment reaching upwards. This stylistic choice draws intertextuality to Maleficent's
Thorn spell (Sleeping Beauty, 1959). Providing an oppressive and isolating connotation which links to Basu’s interest in magical realism and dystopian science fiction which she often draws inspiration from. Basu almost appears to be asynchronous to her environment and her lack of clothing in such a harsh and cruel landscape suggests an element of desperation and distress. This subsequently forces the viewer to question whether Basu will emerge from this situation victorious.
Overall, Basu’s exhibition is an evocative display of both the struggles, challenges and diversity alongside the power of family and maternal bonds. Her work takes its viewer on a journey so that they too feel the distress and yet acknowledge in Basu’s words the ‘strength’ and the ‘magic’ which are ‘dualities [which she sets out to] celebrate’.
Still Want To Find Out More About Poulomi Basu? Read Below for A Short Timeline Of The Artists Life
As the Fireflies exhibition draws to a close Poulomi Basu was invited to Norwich University of The Arts to deliver a small talk. From here I was able to learn more about Poulomi’s lifetime and the projects she has immersed herself in.
Basu (Aged 17)
At age seventeen Poulomi Basu's father died which was the catalyst for Basu's mother in sending her daughter away from home. Alongside her mother’s wishes Basu was also eager to leave home. Seeing both her mother and grandmother widowed Basu didn’t want the same domestic and highly patriarchal fate. Basu had a dream and that dream was to photograph all walks of life. She started this dream by photographing women in domestic spheres.
To Conquer Her Land (2009-10)
To Conquer her land was created when Basu was still a student. This collection captures India’s first women soldiers fighting on the border. Basu was drawn to these individuals due to the atypical representation of femininity alongside the atypical sense of freedom and empowerment felt by the women. Basu shot this collection in both black and white and colour in order to show the past and the present. The coloured images within this collection illustrate new relationships and love. The collection has a heavily post-modern feel to it and helps to tell the stories of women which would’ve not been told otherwise. Here we first start to see Basu using nature as a metaphor for marginalised women’s bodies.
Whilst displaying this collection Basu used sheer floating fabric with her images printed on it to engage her audience in a sensorial way and to challenge the concept of boundaries. This display technique is also evident within the Fireflies exhibition.
Centralia (2010-20)
Centralia was Basu’s first photobook which took ten years to make. The photobook is set in India and highlights voices from different cultures and spaces. It is a complex story of feminism and indigenous rights alongside care and healing. The photobook also deals with notions such as climate action and presenting women as figures of resistance and change.
Blood Speaks (2013- present)
Blood speaks explores patriarchy and menstruation. In many countries and cultures menstruation is seen as dirty and scary with individuals believing that a women’s sexuality needs to be controlled by any means necessary. In order to do this young women and girls receive a limited diet and are often confined to rooms, experience rape and are forced into arranged marriages before their first period in order to guarantee that they ascend to heaven. Basu uses virtual reality to travel to these locations and film individuals affected by their culture’s views on menstruation. Through using virtual reality individuals from around the globe are able to place themselves within the affected girls culture creating a visceral experience.
As part of this project Basu also created Maya: The Birth Of A Superhero which follows the narrative of a women who obtains magic powers from her period. The protagonist (Maya) is in memorial of a woman who died in 2021 by being raped and having her home set alight. Maya: The Birth Of A Superhero was displayed in virtual reality by the V&A Museum (September 2023) and resurrects the individual in modern day London where she explores the patriarchy. By placing the narrative within London Basu helps to illustrate that ill treatment due to menstruation is not just a struggle confined to poor, third world countries.
Fireflies (2019-Present)
This brings us onto Fireflies the subject of this blog post. Fireflies is seen by Basu as a work of embodied activism. It aims to highlight survivors of violence and the reclaiming of their bodies. Basu believes that the body is a space of political warfare and is a collective radical space for exploration. The collection explores how we turn to the world to heal and touches upon the notion of resisting against systematic injustice and how it is both contagious yet dangerous. Despite this, Fireflies is a celebration of the stories and struggles of the women who have helped Basu to create the collection and deals with notions such as healing, love, space and care.
Bibliography
Sleeping Beauty (1959) Directed by Les Clark, Clyde Geronimi, Eric Larson, Wolfgang Reitherman [DVD]. United States. Walt Disney Productions
Vora, Bindi (2023) Poulomi Basu: Fireflies. Available at: https://www.autograph.org.uk/exhibitions/poulomi-basu-fireflies-east-gallery (Accessed: 19.10.23)
(Unknown I) (2022) About- Poulomi Basu. Available at: http://www.poulomibasu.com/about (Accessed: 19.10.23)
(Unknown II) (2023) Poulomi Basu. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poulomi_Basu (Accessed: 19.10.23)
(Unknown III) (2023) Exhibition at East Gallery. Available at: https://norwichuni.ac.uk/events/all/poulomi-basu-fireflies/ (Accessed: 19.10.23)
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