Dilara Begum Jolly has addressed pain and injustice in her work. She has sifted through the stream of contemporary events to focus on the pain and violence inflicted on the weak by the strong, the inconsistencies and insensitivity that is bred in a world driven by power and wealth. Jolly’s work has always vibrated with political content and commitment. It is direct but never without the quality of transformation. Brutality and violence have been portrayed through symbols, spontaneous forms and shapes, vivid colours and textures which at first glance often baffle the viewer about their true meaning .What looks like a beautiful flower can turn out to be a floating uterus, if one takes a second look.
Jolly has been dealing with the role of women in society since the mid 80’s . She has sought to move away from the language of art accepted and celebrated by patriarchal society and institutions. The needle art of women, the nakshi kantha has found its place in her work as an alternative language , rich with symbols and almost sculptural with its soft textured surface of thousands of tiny stitches transforming layers of old fabric into a picture. Not just any picture but an abstract and highly symbolical picture of the hopes, desires and experiences of women. In the exhibition of CELEBRATED VIOLENCE-5, Jolly presented a series of drawings titled WOUND done on paper with delicate pricks of the needle .They are bereft of colour and the pure white paper is only textured with the sharp point of the needle. The soft paper receives the delicate piercing of the needle which creates a WOUND as well as …
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