Curator : Shristi Sainani

Dates : 15th April 2023 — 15th May 2023

Host :  Apre Art House, Mumbai

Artist : Meher Afroz Vahid , Prachee Batra , Kanchan Chander , Aakriti Chandervanshi , Mayuri Chari , Piyali Ghosh , Hemavathy Guha , Sanna Irshad Mattoo , Sadhvi Jawa , Mrudula Kunatharaju , Bhairavi Modi , Krishna Popaliya, Ahalya Rajendran, Rachita Dutta, Meenakshi Nihalani, 
 

 

Curatorial Statement :
“All oppression creates a state of war; this is no exception.”
— Simone de Beauvoir

When it is said to ‘stop bellyaching’ they mean, to cease complaining about something that seems
unreasonable or unjustified. Actions, intentions, words and dilemmas are deliberately caged, trappe
in layers between sediments. They turn to secrets, veil, endless pits of rubble that turn heavy. The gut
feels full, then again, there is a bellyache — an ache to reveal, an ache to set free, an ache to unravel
the hidden bits which make the very foundation of (a) being.

The exhibition [Tender buttons, and another] Bellyache looks towards texts by poet Gertrude Stein and
philosopher Simone de Beauvoir. Gertrude Stein’s poem, ‘Tender Buttons’ was radical in a sense that
it was where words and objects merged. Autonomy was granted to make meanings. Similarly, de
Beauvoir’s Second Sex actively shunned assigned constructs which are not inherent temperaments,
but a learning through socialization, for the upkeep of an existent patriarchal system. It said,

“let her have her independent existence and she will continue nonetheless to exist...
mutually recognizing each other as subject, each will yet remain for the other an other.”

​

Feebly stitched buttons of a garment, when forced to expand beyond capacity will unfasten, or even
break to being unruly. The presentation of [Tender buttons, and another] Bellyache intends to stray away
from the vicious circle of societal formations, keeping in mind the context of South Asia which has
underlying traditions and currents of suppression. [Tender buttons, and another] Bellyache gives agency to
artists to realize manifestations that reflect personal narratives, socio-cultural encounters an
overheard histories.