Despoiled Shore

In 1992-93, Malani collaborated with Indian-French actor Alaknanda Samarth on the experimental theatre production Medeamaterial, shown as an installation performance at the Max Mueller Bhavan, Mumbai. Dressed in an overcoat made of bubble wrap, the performer interacted with 'Expropriation' (neon sign) and the 14 wall paintings called Despoiled Shore with life-size figures whose format resembled that of an oversized accordion book.

The various colour panels show Medea and Jason, the betrayal of Medea, the greed of the coloniser and the violence in the city during the early 1990s. The variety of multidisciplinary crossovers resulted in an unconventional play, as an allegory for the process of degradation and violence in times of colonial domination.

The work was featured as part of the exhibition 'The Witness' by Nalini Malani. The exhibition was curated by Tasneem Zakaria Mehta and Johan Pijnappel. In this exhibition, Nalini Malani explored concepts and concerns that have preoccupied her for decades - notions of oppression and dominance, of freedom and justice.