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Voyages of Body and Soul: Selected Female Icons of India and Beyond includes scholarly essays and performance/choreographic notes from a diverse range of contributors on the themes of “Mad and Divine: India’s Female Saint-Poets” and “Epic Women of India and Beyond.” The contributors explore the tendency of patriarchal societies to label exceptional saint-poets yearning for the divine as “mad” because of their resistance to normative and acceptable female behavior. Scholars and performers journey across history, with discussions ranging from the 8th century Tamil mystic poet Andal’s divine poetry, to the 16th century saint-poet Meerabai, to figures across the Indian subcontine...
This book is a perfect thriller. It revolves around a mansion that is said to be haunted by a ghost. One of the believed myths is that a bloodthirsty king who was murdered has come back and is staying in a secret basement, killing those who try to investigate the history of that king. Those who enter a hidden tunnel are cursed, haunted, and killed. Six friends, after completing their graduation set on a trip, visit that mansion and get trapped. How did they escape, and who is the culprit? Did any of them find someone dead? How did they investigate that mansion and set others free? The mysteries take so many routes like rivers and end at a point in the sea. They end at a conclusion. It also revolves around friendship and love. The thriller attracts, and no one can guess what's going to happen next or at the end. The thriller's introduction and conclusion captivate everyone and simply keep your soul in while reading the novel and the chapters. Thrillers have long been a popular genre, but THE MANSION's STRAIN is a fresh take on the genre, and the thrill is palpable. Read the suspense novel and get thrilled, Have a happy reading.
‘John Berger has made the world a better place to live in. These essays tell us how he succeeded in that task.’ Arundhati Roy In this collection of essays on the work of, and conversations with, John Berger, thirty-seven of his friends, artistic collaborators and followers come together to form the first truly international and cross-cultural celebration of his interventions. Berger has for decades, through his poetic humanism, brought together geographically, historically and socially disparate subjects. His work continues to throw out lifelines across genres, times and types of experience, opening up radical questions about the meaning of belonging and of community. In keeping with this spirit and in celebration of Berger, the short essays in A Jar of Wild Flowers challenge us all to take the brave step from limited sympathy to extended generosity. With contributions from Ali Smith, Julie Christie, Sally Potter, Ram Rahman, Jean Mohr, Nick Thorpe, Hsiao-Hung Pai and many others.
As an invitation to interrogate the secular modality of art, the book unsettles both the categories of 'art' and 'secular' in their theoretical and historical implications. It questions the temporal, spatial and cultural binaries between the 'sacred' and the 'secular' that have shaped art historical scholarship as well as artistic practice. All the essays here are anchored in a conception of a region, whether we call it South Asia or the Indian subcontinent – one, fissured by histories of partition, state formations and religious nationalisms, but still offering a collective site from which to speak to the disciplines of art and the knowledge worlds in which they are embedded. The book asks: How do we complicate the religious designations of pre-modern art and architecture and the new forms of their resurgence in contemporary iconographies and monuments? How do we re-conceptualize the public and the political, as fiery contestations and new curatorial practices reconfigure the meaning of art in the proliferating spaces of museums, galleries, biennales and festivals? How do we understand South Asian art's deep entanglements with the politics of the present?
This is an investigation of arts and aesthetics in their widest senses and experiences, presenting a variety of perspectives which range from the metaphysical to the political. Moving beyond art as an expression of the inner mind and invention of the individual self, the volume bridges the gap between changing perceptions of contemporary art and aesthetics, and maps globalizing currents in a number of contexts and regions.The volume includes an impressive variety of case studies offered by established leaders in the field and original and emerging scholarly talent covering areas in India, Nepal, Indonesia, Iran, Russia, Rwanda, and Germany, as well as providing transnational or diasporic perspectives. From the contradictory demands made on successful artists from the south in the global art world such as Anish Kapoor, to images of war and puppetry created by female political prisoners, the volume compels creative and political interpretations of the ever-changing and globalizing terrain of arts and aesthetics.
"Founded in 1989, the influential Delhi-based artists' organization Sahmat has offered a platform for artists, writers, poets, musicians, and actors to create and present works that promote artistic freedom and secular, egalitarian values. A companion to an exhibit of the same name at the Smart Museum of Art, The Sahmat Collective explores the contemporary art scene in Delhi while meditating on the power of art as a tool for social change.The Sahmat Collective documents the history of the organization through a series of case studies, each presenting new scholarship, vivid images, reprints of original articles and essays, as well as interviews with artists and organizers of each project. Situating the collective within not only the political sphere in India, but also the contemporary art trends from around the world, this beautifully illustrated volume offers both critical essays on the art produced by Sahmat and texts on the political, social, and artistic climate in India by Smart Museum staff members, philosophers, musicians, members of Sahmat, art historians, anthropologists, and artists. "--
In the New York Times, critic Teju Cole offered this appreciation of the work of Indian–born photographer Raghubir Singh (1942—1999): "Singh gives us photographs charged with life: not only beautiful experiences or painful scenes but also those in–between moments of drift that make up most of our days." This richly illustrated volume, the first in–depth study of Singh's work, situates it at the intersection of Western modernism and traditional South Asian modes of picturing the world. A major practitioner of color street photography, Singh captured images that demonstrate the diverse culture of India. Raghubir Singh features over 100 of his photographs—in counterpoint with the work of such influences as Henri Cartier–Bresson and Lee Friedlander and with images of traditional South Asian artworks that inspired his practice—providing an extensive overview of the artist's career. With its vibrant plates and insightful essays, this publication brilliantly illustrates Cole's assessment that Singh's work draws "breathtaking coherence out of the chaos of the everyday."
The vast Deccan plateau of south-central India stretches from the Arabian Sea to the Bay of Bengal. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the region was home to several major Muslim kingdoms and became a nexus of international trade — most notably in diamonds and textiles, through which the sultanates attained remarkable wealth. The opulent art of the Deccan courts, invigorated by cultural connections to the Middle East, Africa, and Europe, developed an otherworldly character distinct from that of the contemporary Mughal north: in painting, a poetic lyricism and audacious use of color; in the decorative arts, lively creations of inlaid metalware and painted and dyed textiles; and in ...
The purpose of art, the Paris-trained artist Amrita Sher-Gil wrote in 1936, is to "create the forms of the future” by “draw[ing] its inspiration from the present.” Through art, new worlds can be imagined into existence as artists cultivate forms of belonging and networks of association that oppose colonialist and nationalist norms. Drawing on Edward Said’s notion of “affiliation” as a critical and cultural imperative against empire and nation-state, Worldly Affiliations traces the emergence of a national art world in twentieth-century India and emphasizes its cosmopolitan ambitions and orientations. Sonal Khullar focuses on four major Indian artists—Sher-Gil, Maqbool Fida Husai...
Gandhi’s use of the spinning wheel was one of the most significant unifying elements of the nationalist movement in India. Spinning was seen as an economic and political activity that could bring together the diverse population of South Asia, and allow the formerly elite nationalist movement to connect to the broader Indian population. This book looks at the politics of spinning both as a visual symbol and as a symbolic practice. It traces the genealogy of spinning from its early colonial manifestations in Company painting to its appropriation by the anti-colonial movement. This complex of visual imagery and performative ritual had the potential to overcome labour, gender, and religious divisions and thereby produce an accessible and effective symbol for the Gandhian anti-colonial movement. By thoroughly examining all aspects of this symbol’s deployment, this book unpacks the politics of the spinning wheel and provides a model for the analysis of political symbols elsewhere. It also probes the successes of India’s particular anti-colonial movement, making an invaluable contribution to studies in social and cultural history, as well as South Asian Studies.