VICHITRA: "Spot the Difference"
Artist Statement by Tejal Patni
In Vichitra, I invite viewers to engage with a visual game of "Spot the Difference," but not in the way we might remember from childhood. Here, it's not merely about noticing what has been altered, but rather questioning the premise itself: what makes us see difference? And, more crucially, why do we so often see difference when we might instead see sameness?
Through this immersive exhibit, I examine the human impulse to compare, categorize, and judge. Blood, for instance, flows uniformly among all of us, yet society insists on marking distinctions across every boundary it can invent. In one installation, blood bags hang clinically, framed by Nana Patekar's famous monologue from Krantiveer that decries these divisions. The simplicity of his words against the sterile visual structure highlights our shared essence, cutting through the clutter of outward differences.
Each room within Vichitra carries its own layers of perception, contrast, and illusion. They play with scale, color, and even memory. A woman stands alone, contemplating her place in line—both in life and in mortality. A scene outside a PCO calling center reveals a hidden world of innocence lost to modernity. Every image, every interaction, offers a new way to question what we see and what we often overlook.
Vichitra is, at its heart, an exploration of what makes us feel unique and what keeps us connected, asking viewers to challenge their instinct to spot differences, and instead recognize a unity that transcends appearances.
Welcome to Vichitra, a place of perspective and perception, where the trivial reveals the profound, and the familiar becomes strange.
REVISIT THE INAUGURAL VICHITRA
(MARCH 2024 AT SNOWBALL STUDIOS)