Overview

The suite of photographs and video pieces that make up the present series are drawn from performances that Nikhil has undertaken since 2008 in which he has inhabited the character Yog Raj Chitrakar.

The previous exhibition of Nikhil’s photographic and video work was limited to the documentation of one performance, Yog Raj Chitrakar: Memory Drawing II, exhibited first in Mumbai in June 2008.  In the present exhibition, works are drawn from performances from locations as diverse as Yokohama, Brussels, Oslo, Manchester, New York, Chicago and Mumbai. These performances were undertaken both in institutional spaces as well as in public spaces and were often at the invitation of theatre or performance art festivals.
The photographs and video pieces that have come out of these performances are the product of Nikhil’s engagement with audiences that always include at least one photographer as well as a videographer who are part of the production team and engaged with the task of following Nikhil through the length of the performance and studying, in minute detail, the unfolding of the piece.

The selection, editing and final presentation of each work is always undertaken by Nikhil and is done with a view to present works that function as both documents loaded with information pertaining to specific performances, as well as aesthetic objects that can exist independently of the moorings of the performances from which they are drawn.