TAMASHA by Abhishek Khedekar Photo Collection

About the productJapanese

A collection of works by Indian artist Abhishek Rajaram Khedekar. The winner of the first Publishing Performance residency and book award, this experimental documentary/fiction film follows a nomadic troupe of 100 Dalit (untouchable) "families" performing Tamasha, a folk dance that combines dance, music and visual arts and dates back to the 1800s. As rural dance and song fell into disuse in post-independence India, Tamasha also became socially stigmatized, polarized and declined. Made during a trip across Maharashtra, this film delves deep into the complexities of India's socio-cultural fabric, using a wide variety of artistic techniques including archival material, collage, documentary photography, performance, sound and video.

His bricolage of experimental visual narratives elevates the simplicity of his theatre's make-do-with-what-you-can stage into a unique aesthetic of song, community and expression, positioning the tamasha tradition in contemporary India.

The author is the winner of the Publishing Performance 2022 award, which is awarded to an artist residency and publication that focuses on the intersection of photography and performance. This work was produced as a collection of works edited, designed and published by the publisher Loose Joints during the artist-in-residence at Mahler & LeWitt Studios in Spoleto, Italy.

The inaugural winner of the Publishing Performance residency and book award uses sculpture, collage and reappropriation to capture the synaesthesia of a rural Indian working-class spectacle.

Indian artist Abhishek Khedekar's experimental docu-fiction follows a 100-person nomadic troupe of Dalit 'families' performing Tamasha: a traveling form of performance combining dance, music, and visual art dating back to the 1800s. As post-independence India moved away from rural dance and song forms, Tamasha became stigmatized, polarized and relegated in Indian society. Criss-crossing the state of Maharashtra, Khedekar's images dive into the complexity of this sociocultural fabric with a dizzying array of artistic techniques by utilising archival material, collage, documentary photography, performance, sound and video.

Khedekar's bricolage of experimental visual narratives elevates the make-do, unpretentious attitude of Tamasha performance into a unique aesthetic of song, community and expression: situating Tamasha's traditions in modern India.

Khedekar is the recipient of Publishing Performance 2022: an artist's residency and publishing award focused on the intersections of photography and performance. Khedekar developed his work as artist-in-residence at Mahler & LeWitt Studios in Spoleto, Italy, for a book to be edited, designed and published by Loose Joints.

Product Information

release date Available now

Part numberGPHT12068W-9781912719457

Specification softcover／88 pages／220 x 260 mm

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