Vaitarna Crossing I & II (Abandoned Journeys)

Atul Bhalla’s practice navigates issues relating to water. Mythically, the Vaitarna River does not contain water;¬ it is a river full of blood, pus, mucus, with heaps of rotting bones and flesh on its banks, seething with smoke, fumes, decay and misery. Sifting through carrion, worms, maggots, insects, scavenging birds and animals crowd its bank. It is impossible to cross this river to enter heaven, as one is obstructed by ones deeds, karma in this life. If you are thirsty, you have to drink the blood flowing in the river. You fall into it with no rescuer; the hundreds of whirlpools in the river will take you to the lowest depths, only to rise again, in the filth of our own creation. We are all in Vaitarna and there is no other bank.

These works came about from images shot following the Vaitarna River; north of Mumbai to its Dam, a source of water to most of Mumbai.

The works were featured as part of the exhibition 'Asymmetrical Objects', curated by Tasneem Zakaria Mehta and co-curated by Himanshu Kadam. The exhibition presented the works of ten contemporary artists whose practice includes an interest in nature and science or consumption and degradation as process and product, to respond to these ideas and to explore the much-debated Age of the Anthropocene and its impact on the environment and the effects on biodiversity.