'Cloud Deviations' by Shujaat Mirza , Archival inkjet print on acid free, premium paper on hardboard, 2020. It is a collection of digital images in a grid of 3 by 3 in the following order (left to right, top to bottom):
- Creation ( big bang )
- Stone Age
- Bronze Age
- Iron Age
- Atomic Holocaust
- Nuclear Winter
- Toxic Growth
- Artificial Produce
- Blood Harvest
"The constant stimuli that flashes across and flickers on phone or television or big screen makes us participate in a macabre ritual which is a wild goose chase that leads to a permanently heightened sense of dissatisfaction with our lives and we keep aspiring covetously for an unfulfillable endgame.
This basic idea of human lust for evermore is magnified through the cosmology of a fully grown cauliflower* that mimics the cycles of the world across this path of self-inflicted damage as it mutates into grotesque and distorted realities. The photo montage is a house of horrors that nudges us to realize the potential follies of following the usual way of doing things. The artistic intervention is through the unflagging grip on the narrative, that sends a message of hope that we can change things for the better.
The use of vegetation throws attention on the idea of 'from farm to table', which emphasizes the use of locally available things, so that we do not overstretch and burden the earth." - Shujaat Mirza
A poem, Bartered Infinity by Shujaat Mirza:
The party begins early
for those who ride the wave
and the crash comes for others
Life is a humdinger for some
and harbinger for others
A plastic waste floats on the sea surface
capturing indispensabilities
Wants gather over the lips
like transferred froth from hot liquids
Boiling over into uncertainties
that remain stagnant over time
And then come pouring in
like unexpected eventualities
A darkness in the heart
isn't wiped clean by deflections
Nor can much come out of concomitant actions
We float like ambers that are frozen flat
Carcasses of a fire that has lost its intensities
Incandescent once, now we are shelled nuts
Weightless in the trauma
of a passage to bartered infinities.
Shujaat Mirza
Shipping and Logistics extra as per actuals