Commissioned by Serendipity Arts Foundation for Serendipity Arts Festival 2024
The House Blue is a blend of a pop-up photography exhibition and collaborative narrative theatre performance.
The work is rooted in a series of images made by Mritunjay, a documentary photographer and filmmaker, of a government quarter, taken on the last day of its occupancy by his family. While the images themselves may seem like an attempt to capture the ephemeral aspect of leaving a house, the work is an enquiry of the questions that Mritunjay and perhaps countless other people have.
What is home? Does a home need to be a physical space that one occupies? Can a place become a person and vice-versa? How does homelessness feel? What would its contours be? What does it mean to migrate, be displaced, and to desert? What are the ways in which we engage with loss? These questions form the core themes of this performance.
The narrative-theatre performance is a collaboration between Mritunjay and Anish, a theatre maker. It explores the multifaceted themes of home, migration, and the complex relationship between people and places.
The primary language of performances shall be English and Hindustani with some Magahi. The performative piece uses a mix of narration, projection of the images from the house, and live music. Anish has created a series of original music pieces and uses popular songs in Nagpuri, Bhojpuri, and Bangla. There will be two shows every day at 12pm and 4pm, alternating between the English and Hindi/Hindustani languages(details below).
The House Blue exhibition is on view from 15 December to 22 December.
