Moments of Stillness
20 December 2013
Curated by Gabriella Sonabend in collaboration with the women of Varanasi
Assi Ghat, Varanasi, India
In 2013 artist and curator Gabriella Sonabend was in residence at Kriti Gallery in Varanasi, India. During this time she made ‘Thirty Over Ten’ which was awarded the Art Nova prize in 2015 and created ‘Moments of Stillness’ a one day exhibition dedicated to the women of Banaras.
“ 'In Moments of Stillness’ was an effort to faithfully portray the women of Banaras. In Varanasi the population is heavily imbalanced, the streets and Ghats are filled with lingering men, most of whom are unemployed and seemingly spend their hours waiting (for what I will never know). Women are scarcely seen in public and are constantly occupied with household duties and work, when seen at the ghats they are continuously moving - washing, praying and bathing.
This three month long project was a result of rare and highly intense interactions with women who I found along the ghats. Each day I would approach different women and offer to draw them, remarkably they were very willing and extremely generous with their time - sitting for me for up to an hour at a time. After a few weeks of turning up to draw everyday people came to expect me, when I arrived at my stoop near Assi Ghat a line of women would be waiting for me each morning, eager to be captured. I drew females of every age, caste and background and each was drawn with the same attention and respect; some sat nervous and shy, others laughed and smiled but all sat with great honesty and allowed me to capture their rare moments of stillness. Over three months I drew over one hundred women. Every woman was offered to keep her portrait but none wished to, for all of them the act of being drawn was what mattered, the final destination of their images was irrelevant.
Through this work I gained another perspective of Varanasi, I experienced immense warmth and generosity, curiosity and above all an urgency to communicate. I do not speak Hindi my interactions were often limited to gestures and pencil lines. Therefore these works are a struggle to capture something, which could not be spoken - to represent the under represented faces of Varanasi.
The works were installed at 6.30am on the 20th December at Assi Ghat in Varanasi. Crowds gathered to look at the installation, throughout the event there were scarcely any women in sight. The portraits reminded of their absence, they stood in for the women who are so rarely awarded moments of stillness.”
With thanks to Norman Smith, Kyle Page, Amber Bain, Samuel Nigro, Payal and Kriti Gallery for their support in this project
