Pride is political, just like art. What happens when the two come together? Kolkata Queer Arts Month 2023 (K.QAM) is the answer, which opened with an exhibition titled ‘Fourth Conversation Piece’ at Experimenter, Hindustan Road, on December 8 and will continue until December 27
All photos by Arnab DattaThe exhibition has works from Mahesh Balinga and Rujuta Rao. K.QAM curator (right) Kallol Datta extensively spoke to Sen about his last piece of writing, ‘Three Conversation Pieces’, before his passing. ‘Aveek is physically no more, but our conversations still continue,’ said Datta
Rusha Bose (right)A day in the life of Aveek Sen — Balinga’s exhibit for the curation are pictorial representations of everyday scenes from the life of the late writer and his personal spaces
The exhibition is meant to be an extension of conversations around art with the late Aveek Sen. A litho print made by Sen (aided by Shashi Gour) is on display too. These (in picture) are excerpts from ‘Art & Life’, a collection of 21 Essays by Sen, published by Experimenter Books in 2018
‘Changing Rooms’, a serigraph excerpt from Aveek’s Pocket Book, published by Stolon Press in 2021. This text pertains to Sen’s experiences in a village in South 24 Parganas, where men were dressing up as women
A snippet from the ‘Aperitif’ series by Rujuta Rao, which challenges viewers to engage with their work in a non-linear manner