SPECIAL MENTION

Zahra Yazdani for the project ‘The Insanity Defense’

Zahra Yazdani has a Bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts from Soore Art University, Tehran. She has exhibited her work in solo and group exhibitions including ‘The Forbidden Lands’ at Homa Art Gallery, Iran (solo exhibition, 2018), Delhi Contemporary Art Week at Bikaner House, India (group exhibition, 2021), Persian Sucker, ArTo, Canada Art Fair, presented by 31927_2 Foundation at Toronto, Canada (group exhibition, 2020), to name a few. 

Statement: “My engagement with performative images originates in my fascination with various gestural and facial capabilities of the human body acts to represent myriads feelings and states of mind. My exploration in form and movements of body started with my solo performances for camera. Trying to express the suppressed feelings, aggression, and desires through the act of my body, capture those gestures by camera and archive them. Further, I expanded the experience by engaging other people to visually narrate their stories through their act of body. The Insanity defense project is itself a play. In this play I am playing the role of a criminal by representing the process of a stage photo shoot in such an atmosphere as if a crime is happening.”

Dhiraj Rabha for the project ‘Blurred Hymn’

Dhiraj Rabha holds dual Bachelor’s degrees in political science and fine arts. He has been a part of National Tribal and North East Art Conclave organized by Lalit Kala Akademi, Delhi in 2015 and 2017. His work has been displayed in solo exhibitions at Santiniketan, India. 

Statement: “This project is focused on research and documentation of the endangered indigenous, cultural, theatrical practices of Assam. Since my childhood, I have been observing the degradation of local indigenous traditions, culture, and the crisis of ethnic identity. We have already lost most of our local languages and cultural practices. This moreover is like a conversation about how I look into these practices and a process of learning from them. The Rabhas, a plain tribe belonging to the Tibeto-Burman group and inhabiting the western district of Assam. They have a distinctive folk theatre tradition called Bharigan.”

Jury:

Marie-Nour Hechaime (cultural worker and contemporary art curator)

Monica Narula (artist, cinematographer, film-maker, artistic director)

Munem Wasif (documentary photographer)