It consists of 21 transparent balls, which hang from the ceiling of a disused aviary (4 x 4 x 3 meters) in the gardens of the Modi family estate. Inside each of the balls is a small Marquette, which represents in a kind 3D cartoon form, a paradigm of how contemporary artists disengage themselves from their environment by the aesthetic, critical or sell-reflective concerns in their artwork. The trunk of a tree growing inside the aviary, projecting out of it at the top was also painted blue where it was still inside the cage. This dematerialised the force of nature bursting through this confining man-made space. (The blue colour made the tree ephemeral, like the sky).

The piece is intended to be both Ironic and provocative in the context of an exhibition-cum-workshop situation where I felt that attitudes to making art within limited time (on site) were more important than finished results. I wanted to show all the possible scenarios of how the artist can alienate him/herself unintentionally through the way of putting material (or a network of intention) between him/herself and other people in the world. Because the Marquette’s inside the plastic balls were pre-conceived before I arrived at KHOJ, the point of making the installation was also to see if any of the participating artists approaches would be comparable with my models. I was hoping to be challenged about how other artists and public read my paradigms, in the image-metaphors that I composed to represent a state of creativity.

The most significant response I had from the other KHOJ participants was from South African artist, Tapfuma, who assumed that each of the models I had made corresponded to the approach of one of the participating artists. He picked out one of the hanging sculptures and asked, “Is this me?”. This was indeed the point of the work: that artists could recognise themselves in the paradigms and embrace (our own) potential follies and perceptual framings. An example of one of the Marquette’s: It was covered in money glued to the surface of it with the slogan, “Buy my life-style” on it, and a small cup and toothbrush balanced inside. For artists today who are no longer concerned with producing art objects for a market, the framing of themselves as separate to “normal” society is still potentially there, since their life-style may become commodified. I wanted to do this with a sense of humour, which came out mainly in the surreality of the image compositions in the tiny Marquette’s.

The effect of installing the work in an old birdcage proved that these models of being an artist are either outdated or questionable to me, since I am ultimately looking for an art, which is embedded, in social and human relationships. I am currently also directing short films where the question of what is the subjective point of view of the actors (in this case children in Delhi and Dharamshala who are co-writing the scripts) is foremost. We all live by our personal myths but how do we access the mythic dimensions of another’s experience?