Vibha Galhotra: Utopia of Difference

Vibha Galhotra, Installation view of Utopia of Difference

Vibha Galhotra
Utopia of Difference
March 22 through April 21, 2012
Jack Shainman Gallery, Chelsea, NY

"My work narrates the life of a disordered (or hyper ordered) society, with all the clashes and tensions that contemporary life brings. People build walls around themselves to create order and borders. I am interested in showing what happens when we negotiate with so-called realities created by us through our visual vocabulary." -                                                                                                                                                              Vibha Galhotra

                                                                                                                            quote taken from Jack Shainman Gallery

Vibha Galhotra, Altering Boon, 2011, glass beads, wire and wood, 136 x 36 inches

Utopia of Difference starts with camoflauged figures adorned in military garb, but instead of blending in to nature they blend into the social environment of urban homes and developments. Going further, there is a large tank like structure that has been deflated that lays defeated in the middle of the floor. Almost all of the walls in the gallery further back are draped with what seem like carpets made from these tiny little metal encasings, called ghungroos. The one constant thread throughout the entire show are these little ghungroos, I had no idea what their significance was until I researched them a little further; ghungroos are tiny little metal bells that are traditionally worn by Indian women when performing classical Indian dance. When I found out the significance of the bells, it started to click for me. While using a material that is normally feminine to create these very masculine, large forms she is marrying the two genders together to make it more universally accessible. Living and working in Delhi, India Galhotra brings in her own cultural history while referencing images that are at once personal and part of a larger conversation. There is a sense of decay and urbanization within Utopia of Difference, the colors of the bells call upon the concrete and asphalt of contemporary urban landscapes and the organic deflation of the forms denounce the power of the ever expanding globalization of state-of-the-art living styles. The small parts making up the masses seem to be representing populations of people behind the face of each country vying to be larger powers within the world; together we make up a country but seperately we are only these small individual parts that make very little noise.
Utopia of Difference feels filled with the trepidation of what the future holds for all of us, but also a sense of hope that we can change what seems inevitable. The landscape as we know it is forever undergoing the change for the future of society, but what this exhibit is highlighting is whether or not that change is for the best of everyone. Is it for our own personal interests or the for the good of every person? We keep expanding in population so our dwellings have to keep growing in number, too. Soon all we will know is the urban establishments that surround us. Will Galhotra's exhibits and others that raise similar questions be enough to expand our awareness of our situation, or will we continue to drudge on in blindness?