Dimple B. Shah
India
Dimple B. Shah is a multidisciplinary artist from Bangalore and has studied in the MS University of Baroda. Her pursuit is to blend mediums such as painting, printmaking, installation and performance art into an interdisciplinary language. She has worked in various residencies like Space Studio, Baroda, Glasgow Print Studio UK, Printmakers Studio Mumbai & Baroda and Karnataka Lalit Kala Academy. She has been honored with prestigious National & International Awards among them are the India Foundation for the Arts grant for project 560, 2014 , Afiriperforma International Residency, Lagos ,Nigeria 2013, First Gold Prix in 7th Engraving Biennale, Versailles 2009 and the most prestigious Commonwealth Arts & Crafts Award, UK 2005. She has performed widely in Festivals and Biennales in Zurich, Paris, Much, Lagos, Colombo, Dhaka and many other cities. She has also curated many performance festivals among which KIPAF and JAS Summit are mentionable names. She is currently focusing on Live art practices and community based performance projects.
Work Title: Temple Of Love-Negotiating Sacredness
The performance was based on Curatorial Concept of Text and Traditions performed at Charukola Faculty Fine Arts Dhaka.
I attempted to explore the 12th century period of Karnataka when Bhakti moments and saints explored the existence of god/Spiritualism in their own way. This period also mark important for the prominent feminist Saint and poet Akka Mahadevi with her incredible contribution to poetry and bhakti moments. Her existential and philosophical approach touched me and provided answers to all my questions. I tried to knit this time period and her poems with the contemporary time. I performed some of shamanistic Rituals from my region to engage and mediate my audience to enter in this spiritual journey and process through Akka Mahadevi’s Existential poems. It was an experiential performance for both for me and my audience to dwell back in time.
