Death at a 30 degree-angle

Power, which manifests itself at all levels of human society, is mostly insidious, frequently ridiculous, sometimes overt, largely pompous and rarely, intelligent. Bani Abidi’s work in the past few years has been inspired by the conceptual and visual vocabulary of authority and power. Having lived in a country where the forces of class, caste and feudalism define most social relations, Abidi’s works reflect these complexities through a sense of poignant satire.

Shot in a city on the outskirts of New Delhi, Death at a 30-Degree Angle is a fiction cast in the atelier of Ram Sutar, an octogenarian sculptor who is renowned in India for large statues of politicians and national heroes. It is a reflection on self-portraiture, megalomania and monumentality. Today, statues of erstwhile leaders, rulers and heroes lie scattered in graveyards and public squares all over the world. Communist leaders  of all sizes, colonial  explorers with  hands thrust forward  in righteous motivation,  lowering facsimiles of African dictators  made in Korea, fists, boots, disembodied  heads, all lie relegated  to emote  tourist parks or to overgrown backyards of palace museums. These are objects that once controlled and impressed upon public space and imagination, but overnight became mere proxies, subjected to torture, ridicule and public vengeance.