Eruptions: Poulomi Basu and the art of renewal

Abstract

This paper considers the vision and practice of Indian born transmedia artist Poulomi Basu. It takes Basu's exhibition ‘Eruptions: a decade of creation' (SIDE Gallery 2021) as a starting point to explore her use of analogue and digital photography, film, print, and virtual reality (VR) as tools for collaboration and storytelling with women in India and Nepal. The artist's interview and accompanying images showcase the evolution of Basu’s work and imagination through the projects To Conquer Her Land (2009-12); Blood Speaks: A Ritual of Exile (2013-18) and Centralia (2010-21). Exposing the contemporary injustices and the disinheritance brought by British colonial divisions of land and power, including those along religious lines, the multifaceted stories within these works respond to an important critical juncture. They look back to the past as well as to the present post-colonial struggles in which the complexities and contradictions of tradition are brought firmly into question.