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Nalini Malani: My Reality is Different Review
Showing now at Bath's Holburne Museum and coming to The National Gallery next year, we take a look at Nalini Malani's perspective-challenging review
October 20, 2022
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Nalini Malani disrupts Western linear perspectives – in art, and in history. In My Reality is Different, the viewer is engulfed within a dark cavern, a panoramic 40 metres of wall space, shot with nine overlapping video projections all playing in a continuous loop. But there’s nothing circular nor self-reinforcing to it.
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Malani’s projections comprise largely of animations; using an iPad, she adds layers to classical paintings from the National Gallery and the Holburne Museum in Bath, where the installation is currently based. The combinations are endless. You never quite see the same thing twice, or in the same way.
My Reality is Different must be seen, heard, and felt – photographs, and even videos, don’t do it justice. It is overwhelming and messy – and rightly so, to unsettle what have been deemed ‘universal truths’ about history and art.
Though the artist suggests this is her reality, her gaze, this installation really invites the viewer to participate in creating and deriving meaning. Rather than retelling any story from another singular perspective, My Reality is Different pluralises the past, telling histories, rather than history.
‘I can’t love a hero,’ the artist remarks, in the overlaying narration taken from the Ancient Greek myth of Cassandra. White faces are sometimes scribbled out and replaced with portraits of fictional African and Asian peoples. (She explains she wouldn’t want to misrepresent really existing people, nor take them out of context.)
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Her academic appreciation of these works is apparent. Malani indulges in the particularities of her chosen paintings, often lingering over details like hand gestures or minor characters in the background.
She also goes beyond the frame, commenting upon wider systems of artistic and economic exchange. Superimposed stock market charts nod to international economic networks, and the colonial and imperial sources of wealth upon which such ‘classical’ art collections depended.
Though now based in Mumbai, Malani was born in Karachi, then part of British India. Reflecting her own experiences, her work engages with the multilinear flows between Western and European, and ‘subaltern’, cultures. ‘If Gandhi wasn’t a Hindu, he’d have been a Roman Catholic,’ she remarks, with a cheeky but knowing tone.
Many of her selected paintings seem to share religious themes. Still, her installation’s title is taken from Alice in Wonderland, and she also references T. S. Eliot’s The Waste Land (‘Who is the third that always walks beside you?’), two works of literature that were ‘precious’ to her education.
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Malani’s work - and outlook – is radical. ‘I don’t give a shit,’ she remarks, of a critique that the original artists cannot consent to their works being altered. Celebrated as part of our national – and public – collection, these paintings are perhaps part of the public domain, and all our histories. Nor could she be accused of appropriation, from those who have appropriated so much from other cultures and communities.
The National Gallery holds no permanent modern or contemporary art collection. Instead, Malani is the institution’s first Contemporary Fellow, which involves collaborations with regional collections. Walking into Bath over the Pulteney Bridge, the city’s Georgian architecture is reflected by the water. In many respects, it is a place that mirrors, or reinforces, its own perspective.
Museums must move beyond colonial approaches to acquisition and ownership, and towards sharing to survive as relevant, representative cultural institutions. My Reality is Different, in content and context, begins to break that cycle of privileging European art and histories.
For more, listen to the artist Nalini Malani on My Reality is Different on EMPIRE LINES, a podcast which uncovers the unexpected flows of empires through artworks.
Nalini Malani: My Reality is Different is on view at the Holburne Museum in Bath until 8 January 2023, and then the National Gallery in London from 2 March to 11 June 2023.
Don’t forget to collect your Yamos on the gowithYamo app when you visit!
Nalini Malani disrupts Western linear perspectives – in art, and in history. In My Reality is Different, the viewer is engulfed within a dark cavern, a panoramic 40 metres of wall space, shot with nine overlapping video projections all playing in a continuous loop. But there’s nothing circular nor self-reinforcing to it.
Malani’s projections comprise largely of animations; using an iPad, she adds layers to classical paintings from the National Gallery and the Holburne Museum in Bath, where the installation is currently based. The combinations are endless. You never quite see the same thing twice, or in the same way.
My Reality is Different must be seen, heard, and felt – photographs, and even videos, don’t do it justice. It is overwhelming and messy – and rightly so, to unsettle what have been deemed ‘universal truths’ about history and art.
Though the artist suggests this is her reality, her gaze, this installation really invites the viewer to participate in creating and deriving meaning. Rather than retelling any story from another singular perspective, My Reality is Different pluralises the past, telling histories, rather than history.
‘I can’t love a hero,’ the artist remarks, in the overlaying narration taken from the Ancient Greek myth of Cassandra. White faces are sometimes scribbled out and replaced with portraits of fictional African and Asian peoples. (She explains she wouldn’t want to misrepresent really existing people, nor take them out of context.)
Her academic appreciation of these works is apparent. Malani indulges in the particularities of her chosen paintings, often lingering over details like hand gestures or minor characters in the background.
She also goes beyond the frame, commenting upon wider systems of artistic and economic exchange. Superimposed stock market charts nod to international economic networks, and the colonial and imperial sources of wealth upon which such ‘classical’ art collections depended.
Though now based in Mumbai, Malani was born in Karachi, then part of British India. Reflecting her own experiences, her work engages with the multilinear flows between Western and European, and ‘subaltern’, cultures. ‘If Gandhi wasn’t a Hindu, he’d have been a Roman Catholic,’ she remarks, with a cheeky but knowing tone.
Many of her selected paintings seem to share religious themes. Still, her installation’s title is taken from Alice in Wonderland, and she also references T. S. Eliot’s The Waste Land (‘Who is the third that always walks beside you?’), two works of literature that were ‘precious’ to her education.
Malani’s work - and outlook – is radical. ‘I don’t give a shit,’ she remarks, of a critique that the original artists cannot consent to their works being altered. Celebrated as part of our national – and public – collection, these paintings are perhaps part of the public domain, and all our histories. Nor could she be accused of appropriation, from those who have appropriated so much from other cultures and communities.
The National Gallery holds no permanent modern or contemporary art collection. Instead, Malani is the institution’s first Contemporary Fellow, which involves collaborations with regional collections. Walking into Bath over the Pulteney Bridge, the city’s Georgian architecture is reflected by the water. In many respects, it is a place that mirrors, or reinforces, its own perspective.
Museums must move beyond colonial approaches to acquisition and ownership, and towards sharing to survive as relevant, representative cultural institutions. My Reality is Different, in content and context, begins to break that cycle of privileging European art and histories.
For more, listen to the artist Nalini Malani on My Reality is Different on EMPIRE LINES, a podcast which uncovers the unexpected flows of empires through artworks.
Nalini Malani: My Reality is Different is on view at the Holburne Museum in Bath until 8 January 2023, and then the National Gallery in London from 2 March to 11 June 2023.
Don’t forget to collect your Yamos on the gowithYamo app when you visit!
Nalini Malani disrupts Western linear perspectives – in art, and in history. In My Reality is Different, the viewer is engulfed within a dark cavern, a panoramic 40 metres of wall space, shot with nine overlapping video projections all playing in a continuous loop. But there’s nothing circular nor self-reinforcing to it.
Malani’s projections comprise largely of animations; using an iPad, she adds layers to classical paintings from the National Gallery and the Holburne Museum in Bath, where the installation is currently based. The combinations are endless. You never quite see the same thing twice, or in the same way.
My Reality is Different must be seen, heard, and felt – photographs, and even videos, don’t do it justice. It is overwhelming and messy – and rightly so, to unsettle what have been deemed ‘universal truths’ about history and art.
Though the artist suggests this is her reality, her gaze, this installation really invites the viewer to participate in creating and deriving meaning. Rather than retelling any story from another singular perspective, My Reality is Different pluralises the past, telling histories, rather than history.
‘I can’t love a hero,’ the artist remarks, in the overlaying narration taken from the Ancient Greek myth of Cassandra. White faces are sometimes scribbled out and replaced with portraits of fictional African and Asian peoples. (She explains she wouldn’t want to misrepresent really existing people, nor take them out of context.)
Her academic appreciation of these works is apparent. Malani indulges in the particularities of her chosen paintings, often lingering over details like hand gestures or minor characters in the background.
She also goes beyond the frame, commenting upon wider systems of artistic and economic exchange. Superimposed stock market charts nod to international economic networks, and the colonial and imperial sources of wealth upon which such ‘classical’ art collections depended.
Though now based in Mumbai, Malani was born in Karachi, then part of British India. Reflecting her own experiences, her work engages with the multilinear flows between Western and European, and ‘subaltern’, cultures. ‘If Gandhi wasn’t a Hindu, he’d have been a Roman Catholic,’ she remarks, with a cheeky but knowing tone.
Many of her selected paintings seem to share religious themes. Still, her installation’s title is taken from Alice in Wonderland, and she also references T. S. Eliot’s The Waste Land (‘Who is the third that always walks beside you?’), two works of literature that were ‘precious’ to her education.
Malani’s work - and outlook – is radical. ‘I don’t give a shit,’ she remarks, of a critique that the original artists cannot consent to their works being altered. Celebrated as part of our national – and public – collection, these paintings are perhaps part of the public domain, and all our histories. Nor could she be accused of appropriation, from those who have appropriated so much from other cultures and communities.
The National Gallery holds no permanent modern or contemporary art collection. Instead, Malani is the institution’s first Contemporary Fellow, which involves collaborations with regional collections. Walking into Bath over the Pulteney Bridge, the city’s Georgian architecture is reflected by the water. In many respects, it is a place that mirrors, or reinforces, its own perspective.
Museums must move beyond colonial approaches to acquisition and ownership, and towards sharing to survive as relevant, representative cultural institutions. My Reality is Different, in content and context, begins to break that cycle of privileging European art and histories.
For more, listen to the artist Nalini Malani on My Reality is Different on EMPIRE LINES, a podcast which uncovers the unexpected flows of empires through artworks.
Nalini Malani: My Reality is Different is on view at the Holburne Museum in Bath until 8 January 2023, and then the National Gallery in London from 2 March to 11 June 2023.
Don’t forget to collect your Yamos on the gowithYamo app when you visit!
Nalini Malani disrupts Western linear perspectives – in art, and in history. In My Reality is Different, the viewer is engulfed within a dark cavern, a panoramic 40 metres of wall space, shot with nine overlapping video projections all playing in a continuous loop. But there’s nothing circular nor self-reinforcing to it.
Malani’s projections comprise largely of animations; using an iPad, she adds layers to classical paintings from the National Gallery and the Holburne Museum in Bath, where the installation is currently based. The combinations are endless. You never quite see the same thing twice, or in the same way.
My Reality is Different must be seen, heard, and felt – photographs, and even videos, don’t do it justice. It is overwhelming and messy – and rightly so, to unsettle what have been deemed ‘universal truths’ about history and art.
Though the artist suggests this is her reality, her gaze, this installation really invites the viewer to participate in creating and deriving meaning. Rather than retelling any story from another singular perspective, My Reality is Different pluralises the past, telling histories, rather than history.
‘I can’t love a hero,’ the artist remarks, in the overlaying narration taken from the Ancient Greek myth of Cassandra. White faces are sometimes scribbled out and replaced with portraits of fictional African and Asian peoples. (She explains she wouldn’t want to misrepresent really existing people, nor take them out of context.)
Her academic appreciation of these works is apparent. Malani indulges in the particularities of her chosen paintings, often lingering over details like hand gestures or minor characters in the background.
She also goes beyond the frame, commenting upon wider systems of artistic and economic exchange. Superimposed stock market charts nod to international economic networks, and the colonial and imperial sources of wealth upon which such ‘classical’ art collections depended.
Though now based in Mumbai, Malani was born in Karachi, then part of British India. Reflecting her own experiences, her work engages with the multilinear flows between Western and European, and ‘subaltern’, cultures. ‘If Gandhi wasn’t a Hindu, he’d have been a Roman Catholic,’ she remarks, with a cheeky but knowing tone.
Many of her selected paintings seem to share religious themes. Still, her installation’s title is taken from Alice in Wonderland, and she also references T. S. Eliot’s The Waste Land (‘Who is the third that always walks beside you?’), two works of literature that were ‘precious’ to her education.
Malani’s work - and outlook – is radical. ‘I don’t give a shit,’ she remarks, of a critique that the original artists cannot consent to their works being altered. Celebrated as part of our national – and public – collection, these paintings are perhaps part of the public domain, and all our histories. Nor could she be accused of appropriation, from those who have appropriated so much from other cultures and communities.
The National Gallery holds no permanent modern or contemporary art collection. Instead, Malani is the institution’s first Contemporary Fellow, which involves collaborations with regional collections. Walking into Bath over the Pulteney Bridge, the city’s Georgian architecture is reflected by the water. In many respects, it is a place that mirrors, or reinforces, its own perspective.
Museums must move beyond colonial approaches to acquisition and ownership, and towards sharing to survive as relevant, representative cultural institutions. My Reality is Different, in content and context, begins to break that cycle of privileging European art and histories.
For more, listen to the artist Nalini Malani on My Reality is Different on EMPIRE LINES, a podcast which uncovers the unexpected flows of empires through artworks.
Nalini Malani: My Reality is Different is on view at the Holburne Museum in Bath until 8 January 2023, and then the National Gallery in London from 2 March to 11 June 2023.
Don’t forget to collect your Yamos on the gowithYamo app when you visit!
Nalini Malani disrupts Western linear perspectives – in art, and in history. In My Reality is Different, the viewer is engulfed within a dark cavern, a panoramic 40 metres of wall space, shot with nine overlapping video projections all playing in a continuous loop. But there’s nothing circular nor self-reinforcing to it.
Malani’s projections comprise largely of animations; using an iPad, she adds layers to classical paintings from the National Gallery and the Holburne Museum in Bath, where the installation is currently based. The combinations are endless. You never quite see the same thing twice, or in the same way.
My Reality is Different must be seen, heard, and felt – photographs, and even videos, don’t do it justice. It is overwhelming and messy – and rightly so, to unsettle what have been deemed ‘universal truths’ about history and art.
Though the artist suggests this is her reality, her gaze, this installation really invites the viewer to participate in creating and deriving meaning. Rather than retelling any story from another singular perspective, My Reality is Different pluralises the past, telling histories, rather than history.
‘I can’t love a hero,’ the artist remarks, in the overlaying narration taken from the Ancient Greek myth of Cassandra. White faces are sometimes scribbled out and replaced with portraits of fictional African and Asian peoples. (She explains she wouldn’t want to misrepresent really existing people, nor take them out of context.)
Her academic appreciation of these works is apparent. Malani indulges in the particularities of her chosen paintings, often lingering over details like hand gestures or minor characters in the background.
She also goes beyond the frame, commenting upon wider systems of artistic and economic exchange. Superimposed stock market charts nod to international economic networks, and the colonial and imperial sources of wealth upon which such ‘classical’ art collections depended.
Though now based in Mumbai, Malani was born in Karachi, then part of British India. Reflecting her own experiences, her work engages with the multilinear flows between Western and European, and ‘subaltern’, cultures. ‘If Gandhi wasn’t a Hindu, he’d have been a Roman Catholic,’ she remarks, with a cheeky but knowing tone.
Many of her selected paintings seem to share religious themes. Still, her installation’s title is taken from Alice in Wonderland, and she also references T. S. Eliot’s The Waste Land (‘Who is the third that always walks beside you?’), two works of literature that were ‘precious’ to her education.
Malani’s work - and outlook – is radical. ‘I don’t give a shit,’ she remarks, of a critique that the original artists cannot consent to their works being altered. Celebrated as part of our national – and public – collection, these paintings are perhaps part of the public domain, and all our histories. Nor could she be accused of appropriation, from those who have appropriated so much from other cultures and communities.
The National Gallery holds no permanent modern or contemporary art collection. Instead, Malani is the institution’s first Contemporary Fellow, which involves collaborations with regional collections. Walking into Bath over the Pulteney Bridge, the city’s Georgian architecture is reflected by the water. In many respects, it is a place that mirrors, or reinforces, its own perspective.
Museums must move beyond colonial approaches to acquisition and ownership, and towards sharing to survive as relevant, representative cultural institutions. My Reality is Different, in content and context, begins to break that cycle of privileging European art and histories.
For more, listen to the artist Nalini Malani on My Reality is Different on EMPIRE LINES, a podcast which uncovers the unexpected flows of empires through artworks.
Nalini Malani: My Reality is Different is on view at the Holburne Museum in Bath until 8 January 2023, and then the National Gallery in London from 2 March to 11 June 2023.
Don’t forget to collect your Yamos on the gowithYamo app when you visit!
Nalini Malani disrupts Western linear perspectives – in art, and in history. In My Reality is Different, the viewer is engulfed within a dark cavern, a panoramic 40 metres of wall space, shot with nine overlapping video projections all playing in a continuous loop. But there’s nothing circular nor self-reinforcing to it.
Malani’s projections comprise largely of animations; using an iPad, she adds layers to classical paintings from the National Gallery and the Holburne Museum in Bath, where the installation is currently based. The combinations are endless. You never quite see the same thing twice, or in the same way.
My Reality is Different must be seen, heard, and felt – photographs, and even videos, don’t do it justice. It is overwhelming and messy – and rightly so, to unsettle what have been deemed ‘universal truths’ about history and art.
Though the artist suggests this is her reality, her gaze, this installation really invites the viewer to participate in creating and deriving meaning. Rather than retelling any story from another singular perspective, My Reality is Different pluralises the past, telling histories, rather than history.
‘I can’t love a hero,’ the artist remarks, in the overlaying narration taken from the Ancient Greek myth of Cassandra. White faces are sometimes scribbled out and replaced with portraits of fictional African and Asian peoples. (She explains she wouldn’t want to misrepresent really existing people, nor take them out of context.)
Her academic appreciation of these works is apparent. Malani indulges in the particularities of her chosen paintings, often lingering over details like hand gestures or minor characters in the background.
She also goes beyond the frame, commenting upon wider systems of artistic and economic exchange. Superimposed stock market charts nod to international economic networks, and the colonial and imperial sources of wealth upon which such ‘classical’ art collections depended.
Though now based in Mumbai, Malani was born in Karachi, then part of British India. Reflecting her own experiences, her work engages with the multilinear flows between Western and European, and ‘subaltern’, cultures. ‘If Gandhi wasn’t a Hindu, he’d have been a Roman Catholic,’ she remarks, with a cheeky but knowing tone.
Many of her selected paintings seem to share religious themes. Still, her installation’s title is taken from Alice in Wonderland, and she also references T. S. Eliot’s The Waste Land (‘Who is the third that always walks beside you?’), two works of literature that were ‘precious’ to her education.
Malani’s work - and outlook – is radical. ‘I don’t give a shit,’ she remarks, of a critique that the original artists cannot consent to their works being altered. Celebrated as part of our national – and public – collection, these paintings are perhaps part of the public domain, and all our histories. Nor could she be accused of appropriation, from those who have appropriated so much from other cultures and communities.
The National Gallery holds no permanent modern or contemporary art collection. Instead, Malani is the institution’s first Contemporary Fellow, which involves collaborations with regional collections. Walking into Bath over the Pulteney Bridge, the city’s Georgian architecture is reflected by the water. In many respects, it is a place that mirrors, or reinforces, its own perspective.
Museums must move beyond colonial approaches to acquisition and ownership, and towards sharing to survive as relevant, representative cultural institutions. My Reality is Different, in content and context, begins to break that cycle of privileging European art and histories.
For more, listen to the artist Nalini Malani on My Reality is Different on EMPIRE LINES, a podcast which uncovers the unexpected flows of empires through artworks.
Nalini Malani: My Reality is Different is on view at the Holburne Museum in Bath until 8 January 2023, and then the National Gallery in London from 2 March to 11 June 2023.
Don’t forget to collect your Yamos on the gowithYamo app when you visit!
Nalini Malani disrupts Western linear perspectives – in art, and in history. In My Reality is Different, the viewer is engulfed within a dark cavern, a panoramic 40 metres of wall space, shot with nine overlapping video projections all playing in a continuous loop. But there’s nothing circular nor self-reinforcing to it.
Malani’s projections comprise largely of animations; using an iPad, she adds layers to classical paintings from the National Gallery and the Holburne Museum in Bath, where the installation is currently based. The combinations are endless. You never quite see the same thing twice, or in the same way.
My Reality is Different must be seen, heard, and felt – photographs, and even videos, don’t do it justice. It is overwhelming and messy – and rightly so, to unsettle what have been deemed ‘universal truths’ about history and art.
Though the artist suggests this is her reality, her gaze, this installation really invites the viewer to participate in creating and deriving meaning. Rather than retelling any story from another singular perspective, My Reality is Different pluralises the past, telling histories, rather than history.
‘I can’t love a hero,’ the artist remarks, in the overlaying narration taken from the Ancient Greek myth of Cassandra. White faces are sometimes scribbled out and replaced with portraits of fictional African and Asian peoples. (She explains she wouldn’t want to misrepresent really existing people, nor take them out of context.)
Her academic appreciation of these works is apparent. Malani indulges in the particularities of her chosen paintings, often lingering over details like hand gestures or minor characters in the background.
She also goes beyond the frame, commenting upon wider systems of artistic and economic exchange. Superimposed stock market charts nod to international economic networks, and the colonial and imperial sources of wealth upon which such ‘classical’ art collections depended.
Though now based in Mumbai, Malani was born in Karachi, then part of British India. Reflecting her own experiences, her work engages with the multilinear flows between Western and European, and ‘subaltern’, cultures. ‘If Gandhi wasn’t a Hindu, he’d have been a Roman Catholic,’ she remarks, with a cheeky but knowing tone.
Many of her selected paintings seem to share religious themes. Still, her installation’s title is taken from Alice in Wonderland, and she also references T. S. Eliot’s The Waste Land (‘Who is the third that always walks beside you?’), two works of literature that were ‘precious’ to her education.
Malani’s work - and outlook – is radical. ‘I don’t give a shit,’ she remarks, of a critique that the original artists cannot consent to their works being altered. Celebrated as part of our national – and public – collection, these paintings are perhaps part of the public domain, and all our histories. Nor could she be accused of appropriation, from those who have appropriated so much from other cultures and communities.
The National Gallery holds no permanent modern or contemporary art collection. Instead, Malani is the institution’s first Contemporary Fellow, which involves collaborations with regional collections. Walking into Bath over the Pulteney Bridge, the city’s Georgian architecture is reflected by the water. In many respects, it is a place that mirrors, or reinforces, its own perspective.
Museums must move beyond colonial approaches to acquisition and ownership, and towards sharing to survive as relevant, representative cultural institutions. My Reality is Different, in content and context, begins to break that cycle of privileging European art and histories.
For more, listen to the artist Nalini Malani on My Reality is Different on EMPIRE LINES, a podcast which uncovers the unexpected flows of empires through artworks.
Nalini Malani: My Reality is Different is on view at the Holburne Museum in Bath until 8 January 2023, and then the National Gallery in London from 2 March to 11 June 2023.
Don’t forget to collect your Yamos on the gowithYamo app when you visit!
Nalini Malani disrupts Western linear perspectives – in art, and in history. In My Reality is Different, the viewer is engulfed within a dark cavern, a panoramic 40 metres of wall space, shot with nine overlapping video projections all playing in a continuous loop. But there’s nothing circular nor self-reinforcing to it.
Malani’s projections comprise largely of animations; using an iPad, she adds layers to classical paintings from the National Gallery and the Holburne Museum in Bath, where the installation is currently based. The combinations are endless. You never quite see the same thing twice, or in the same way.
My Reality is Different must be seen, heard, and felt – photographs, and even videos, don’t do it justice. It is overwhelming and messy – and rightly so, to unsettle what have been deemed ‘universal truths’ about history and art.
Though the artist suggests this is her reality, her gaze, this installation really invites the viewer to participate in creating and deriving meaning. Rather than retelling any story from another singular perspective, My Reality is Different pluralises the past, telling histories, rather than history.
‘I can’t love a hero,’ the artist remarks, in the overlaying narration taken from the Ancient Greek myth of Cassandra. White faces are sometimes scribbled out and replaced with portraits of fictional African and Asian peoples. (She explains she wouldn’t want to misrepresent really existing people, nor take them out of context.)
Her academic appreciation of these works is apparent. Malani indulges in the particularities of her chosen paintings, often lingering over details like hand gestures or minor characters in the background.
She also goes beyond the frame, commenting upon wider systems of artistic and economic exchange. Superimposed stock market charts nod to international economic networks, and the colonial and imperial sources of wealth upon which such ‘classical’ art collections depended.
Though now based in Mumbai, Malani was born in Karachi, then part of British India. Reflecting her own experiences, her work engages with the multilinear flows between Western and European, and ‘subaltern’, cultures. ‘If Gandhi wasn’t a Hindu, he’d have been a Roman Catholic,’ she remarks, with a cheeky but knowing tone.
Many of her selected paintings seem to share religious themes. Still, her installation’s title is taken from Alice in Wonderland, and she also references T. S. Eliot’s The Waste Land (‘Who is the third that always walks beside you?’), two works of literature that were ‘precious’ to her education.
Malani’s work - and outlook – is radical. ‘I don’t give a shit,’ she remarks, of a critique that the original artists cannot consent to their works being altered. Celebrated as part of our national – and public – collection, these paintings are perhaps part of the public domain, and all our histories. Nor could she be accused of appropriation, from those who have appropriated so much from other cultures and communities.
The National Gallery holds no permanent modern or contemporary art collection. Instead, Malani is the institution’s first Contemporary Fellow, which involves collaborations with regional collections. Walking into Bath over the Pulteney Bridge, the city’s Georgian architecture is reflected by the water. In many respects, it is a place that mirrors, or reinforces, its own perspective.
Museums must move beyond colonial approaches to acquisition and ownership, and towards sharing to survive as relevant, representative cultural institutions. My Reality is Different, in content and context, begins to break that cycle of privileging European art and histories.
For more, listen to the artist Nalini Malani on My Reality is Different on EMPIRE LINES, a podcast which uncovers the unexpected flows of empires through artworks.
Nalini Malani: My Reality is Different is on view at the Holburne Museum in Bath until 8 January 2023, and then the National Gallery in London from 2 March to 11 June 2023.
Don’t forget to collect your Yamos on the gowithYamo app when you visit!
Nalini Malani disrupts Western linear perspectives – in art, and in history. In My Reality is Different, the viewer is engulfed within a dark cavern, a panoramic 40 metres of wall space, shot with nine overlapping video projections all playing in a continuous loop. But there’s nothing circular nor self-reinforcing to it.
Malani’s projections comprise largely of animations; using an iPad, she adds layers to classical paintings from the National Gallery and the Holburne Museum in Bath, where the installation is currently based. The combinations are endless. You never quite see the same thing twice, or in the same way.
My Reality is Different must be seen, heard, and felt – photographs, and even videos, don’t do it justice. It is overwhelming and messy – and rightly so, to unsettle what have been deemed ‘universal truths’ about history and art.
Though the artist suggests this is her reality, her gaze, this installation really invites the viewer to participate in creating and deriving meaning. Rather than retelling any story from another singular perspective, My Reality is Different pluralises the past, telling histories, rather than history.
‘I can’t love a hero,’ the artist remarks, in the overlaying narration taken from the Ancient Greek myth of Cassandra. White faces are sometimes scribbled out and replaced with portraits of fictional African and Asian peoples. (She explains she wouldn’t want to misrepresent really existing people, nor take them out of context.)
Her academic appreciation of these works is apparent. Malani indulges in the particularities of her chosen paintings, often lingering over details like hand gestures or minor characters in the background.
She also goes beyond the frame, commenting upon wider systems of artistic and economic exchange. Superimposed stock market charts nod to international economic networks, and the colonial and imperial sources of wealth upon which such ‘classical’ art collections depended.
Though now based in Mumbai, Malani was born in Karachi, then part of British India. Reflecting her own experiences, her work engages with the multilinear flows between Western and European, and ‘subaltern’, cultures. ‘If Gandhi wasn’t a Hindu, he’d have been a Roman Catholic,’ she remarks, with a cheeky but knowing tone.
Many of her selected paintings seem to share religious themes. Still, her installation’s title is taken from Alice in Wonderland, and she also references T. S. Eliot’s The Waste Land (‘Who is the third that always walks beside you?’), two works of literature that were ‘precious’ to her education.
Malani’s work - and outlook – is radical. ‘I don’t give a shit,’ she remarks, of a critique that the original artists cannot consent to their works being altered. Celebrated as part of our national – and public – collection, these paintings are perhaps part of the public domain, and all our histories. Nor could she be accused of appropriation, from those who have appropriated so much from other cultures and communities.
The National Gallery holds no permanent modern or contemporary art collection. Instead, Malani is the institution’s first Contemporary Fellow, which involves collaborations with regional collections. Walking into Bath over the Pulteney Bridge, the city’s Georgian architecture is reflected by the water. In many respects, it is a place that mirrors, or reinforces, its own perspective.
Museums must move beyond colonial approaches to acquisition and ownership, and towards sharing to survive as relevant, representative cultural institutions. My Reality is Different, in content and context, begins to break that cycle of privileging European art and histories.
For more, listen to the artist Nalini Malani on My Reality is Different on EMPIRE LINES, a podcast which uncovers the unexpected flows of empires through artworks.
Nalini Malani: My Reality is Different is on view at the Holburne Museum in Bath until 8 January 2023, and then the National Gallery in London from 2 March to 11 June 2023.
Don’t forget to collect your Yamos on the gowithYamo app when you visit!
Nalini Malani disrupts Western linear perspectives – in art, and in history. In My Reality is Different, the viewer is engulfed within a dark cavern, a panoramic 40 metres of wall space, shot with nine overlapping video projections all playing in a continuous loop. But there’s nothing circular nor self-reinforcing to it.
Malani’s projections comprise largely of animations; using an iPad, she adds layers to classical paintings from the National Gallery and the Holburne Museum in Bath, where the installation is currently based. The combinations are endless. You never quite see the same thing twice, or in the same way.
My Reality is Different must be seen, heard, and felt – photographs, and even videos, don’t do it justice. It is overwhelming and messy – and rightly so, to unsettle what have been deemed ‘universal truths’ about history and art.
Though the artist suggests this is her reality, her gaze, this installation really invites the viewer to participate in creating and deriving meaning. Rather than retelling any story from another singular perspective, My Reality is Different pluralises the past, telling histories, rather than history.
‘I can’t love a hero,’ the artist remarks, in the overlaying narration taken from the Ancient Greek myth of Cassandra. White faces are sometimes scribbled out and replaced with portraits of fictional African and Asian peoples. (She explains she wouldn’t want to misrepresent really existing people, nor take them out of context.)
Her academic appreciation of these works is apparent. Malani indulges in the particularities of her chosen paintings, often lingering over details like hand gestures or minor characters in the background.
She also goes beyond the frame, commenting upon wider systems of artistic and economic exchange. Superimposed stock market charts nod to international economic networks, and the colonial and imperial sources of wealth upon which such ‘classical’ art collections depended.
Though now based in Mumbai, Malani was born in Karachi, then part of British India. Reflecting her own experiences, her work engages with the multilinear flows between Western and European, and ‘subaltern’, cultures. ‘If Gandhi wasn’t a Hindu, he’d have been a Roman Catholic,’ she remarks, with a cheeky but knowing tone.
Many of her selected paintings seem to share religious themes. Still, her installation’s title is taken from Alice in Wonderland, and she also references T. S. Eliot’s The Waste Land (‘Who is the third that always walks beside you?’), two works of literature that were ‘precious’ to her education.
Malani’s work - and outlook – is radical. ‘I don’t give a shit,’ she remarks, of a critique that the original artists cannot consent to their works being altered. Celebrated as part of our national – and public – collection, these paintings are perhaps part of the public domain, and all our histories. Nor could she be accused of appropriation, from those who have appropriated so much from other cultures and communities.
The National Gallery holds no permanent modern or contemporary art collection. Instead, Malani is the institution’s first Contemporary Fellow, which involves collaborations with regional collections. Walking into Bath over the Pulteney Bridge, the city’s Georgian architecture is reflected by the water. In many respects, it is a place that mirrors, or reinforces, its own perspective.
Museums must move beyond colonial approaches to acquisition and ownership, and towards sharing to survive as relevant, representative cultural institutions. My Reality is Different, in content and context, begins to break that cycle of privileging European art and histories.
For more, listen to the artist Nalini Malani on My Reality is Different on EMPIRE LINES, a podcast which uncovers the unexpected flows of empires through artworks.
Nalini Malani: My Reality is Different is on view at the Holburne Museum in Bath until 8 January 2023, and then the National Gallery in London from 2 March to 11 June 2023.
Don’t forget to collect your Yamos on the gowithYamo app when you visit!
Nalini Malani disrupts Western linear perspectives – in art, and in history. In My Reality is Different, the viewer is engulfed within a dark cavern, a panoramic 40 metres of wall space, shot with nine overlapping video projections all playing in a continuous loop. But there’s nothing circular nor self-reinforcing to it.
Malani’s projections comprise largely of animations; using an iPad, she adds layers to classical paintings from the National Gallery and the Holburne Museum in Bath, where the installation is currently based. The combinations are endless. You never quite see the same thing twice, or in the same way.
My Reality is Different must be seen, heard, and felt – photographs, and even videos, don’t do it justice. It is overwhelming and messy – and rightly so, to unsettle what have been deemed ‘universal truths’ about history and art.
Though the artist suggests this is her reality, her gaze, this installation really invites the viewer to participate in creating and deriving meaning. Rather than retelling any story from another singular perspective, My Reality is Different pluralises the past, telling histories, rather than history.
‘I can’t love a hero,’ the artist remarks, in the overlaying narration taken from the Ancient Greek myth of Cassandra. White faces are sometimes scribbled out and replaced with portraits of fictional African and Asian peoples. (She explains she wouldn’t want to misrepresent really existing people, nor take them out of context.)
Her academic appreciation of these works is apparent. Malani indulges in the particularities of her chosen paintings, often lingering over details like hand gestures or minor characters in the background.
She also goes beyond the frame, commenting upon wider systems of artistic and economic exchange. Superimposed stock market charts nod to international economic networks, and the colonial and imperial sources of wealth upon which such ‘classical’ art collections depended.
Though now based in Mumbai, Malani was born in Karachi, then part of British India. Reflecting her own experiences, her work engages with the multilinear flows between Western and European, and ‘subaltern’, cultures. ‘If Gandhi wasn’t a Hindu, he’d have been a Roman Catholic,’ she remarks, with a cheeky but knowing tone.
Many of her selected paintings seem to share religious themes. Still, her installation’s title is taken from Alice in Wonderland, and she also references T. S. Eliot’s The Waste Land (‘Who is the third that always walks beside you?’), two works of literature that were ‘precious’ to her education.
Malani’s work - and outlook – is radical. ‘I don’t give a shit,’ she remarks, of a critique that the original artists cannot consent to their works being altered. Celebrated as part of our national – and public – collection, these paintings are perhaps part of the public domain, and all our histories. Nor could she be accused of appropriation, from those who have appropriated so much from other cultures and communities.
The National Gallery holds no permanent modern or contemporary art collection. Instead, Malani is the institution’s first Contemporary Fellow, which involves collaborations with regional collections. Walking into Bath over the Pulteney Bridge, the city’s Georgian architecture is reflected by the water. In many respects, it is a place that mirrors, or reinforces, its own perspective.
Museums must move beyond colonial approaches to acquisition and ownership, and towards sharing to survive as relevant, representative cultural institutions. My Reality is Different, in content and context, begins to break that cycle of privileging European art and histories.
For more, listen to the artist Nalini Malani on My Reality is Different on EMPIRE LINES, a podcast which uncovers the unexpected flows of empires through artworks.
Nalini Malani: My Reality is Different is on view at the Holburne Museum in Bath until 8 January 2023, and then the National Gallery in London from 2 March to 11 June 2023.
Don’t forget to collect your Yamos on the gowithYamo app when you visit!
