The project by Shakuntala Kulkarni “Of bodies, armour and cages” is a space where historical objects like the armour and the elaborately designed costumes/dresses of different communities are brought together in the contemporary context by re-articulating the usage and the medium, collapsing and metamorphosing the two, thus blurring the cultural and visual boundaries.
Kulkarni has been fascinated by the very structure, and the grandeur of the armour: masculine, stiff, strong, lasting and peerless in nature. Armour of the yonder days were worn by these warriors to protect themselves during the encounters or wars. Made of metal and leather, these armour were designed to look grand.
The cane armour /costumes in this project speak of the grandeur too. But the elaborately structured dresses look relatively feminine, linear, fragile, and organic in nature, protecting the body, breaking the gaze by the joineries of the pieces of cane and the weave.
The project “of bodies, armour and cages” thus attempts to address the relationship of the body to the notion of protection and the notion of being trapped.
