the barren orgasm | Shweta Bhattad

13 July, 2017
Vadehra Art Gallery, D-53 Defence Colony, New Delhi

The performance was an expression of the experiences that Shweta had while working in the past three years. It comments on the commodification of resources and livelihoods happening around us. Agriculture was never just a business but a way of life. Farmlands are not just a piece of property for farmers, and means much more to them. A neighboring village of Paradsinga, artists' village, had more than 100 farming families till a couple of years ago, but today there are only seven farmers left in that village because all other farmlands have been grabbed away and converted into Special Economic Zones and given away to corporates.

The red carpet displayed as part of Shweta's performance, represents an open invitation to the land grabbing industry that is not just in and around Paradsinga, but everywhere. The soil smeared on the wall and body comes from a lake that has been built for water conservation in the village. It is the eroded soil from neighboring farms which gets washed away every year, making it increasingly infertile. The video refers to the fertile soil being bombarded by heavy industrial machinery and hazardous agro-chemicals.