Remains of the day....

Singapore based artist Zoya Chaudhary’s work combines contemporary global issues with traditional forms through a powerful process that embodies deliberation and erasure as tools of understanding, acceptance and catharsis. In this body of work Chaudhary uses newsprint as her base material to connect the viewer to the ceaseless stream of global events, often dominated by narratives of injustice and violence. This raw material, laden with the weight of current affairs, serves as a canvas for her intricate explorations into the jali form.

The jali, with its latticed patterns, historically functioned as a screen, offering both privacy and a nuanced engagement with the outside world. Its geometric precision and symbolic connections to infinity and light contrast starkly with the chaotic and often grim news it overlays in Chaudhary’s works. By cutting, scratching, burning, and painting over this material, Chaudhary uses the jali as a metaphorical and literal filter—a rupture in perception that allows viewers to experience a mediated, tempered response to the overwhelming stimuli of global news.

As an operative idea and an organizing principle, ‘rupture’ has a stubborn and enduring sense of currency in our subcontinent, where the history of the 20th century moves from colonial mandates and partition plans to independence eras, bouts of civil unrest, war, uneasy alliances, ongoing political social and economic advancements and turbulence. 

The genesis of the current body of artworks goes back to Chaudhary’s postgraduate studies at LASALLE College of the Arts in Singapore, which coincided with the outbreak of the covid pandemic. It was at this point that the artist, who previously trained in graphic design and illustration in Mumbai and worked primarily with the figurative language transitioned to a more abstract, textured exploration, marking a significant evolution in her practice. Her current works, which blend geometric precision with organic fluidity, invite viewers to experience the ebb and flow of time, the balance between chaos and order, and the intersection of the personal with the political.

By combining these elements, Chaudhary’s art offers not just a visual experience but also a profound meditation on how we process and internalize the relentless march of world events. Her use of the jali as both a barrier and a bridge between the self and the outside world speaks to the enduring relevance of cultural forms in contemporary discourse, making her work a compelling exploration of modern identity and perception.

Deeksha Nath