Nilanjan Das, 'Flying Kiss?', 2021

To explore the pertinent questions of how much intimacy is allowed in a public space, Nilanjan Das took to the streets with silver helium balloons and asked the local population of Okhla whether they were comfortable with the idea of kissing versus a flying kiss or not kissing at all in these spaces. Everytime they responded in an affirmative for a flying kiss the balloon was raised and whenever a resounding no was given a balloon was popped. Carrying the weight of all the responses that called for no intimacy in public spaces, the lone ‘G’ stands as an ephemera of the performance.

The prints draw their imagery from the same balloon, slowly weighed down by the public’s perceptions, but with a slight glimmer of hope for the future.

Nilanjan Das uses the reproductive possibility of print as a point of access to create a direct connection between people and art. Printmaking as a medium of art was the result of technological advancement in the field of printing, initially meant as a mode to disperse information to the masses and spread word in public spaces. Exploring how this medium has been used since to dictate social and legal rules, value systems, norms, functionalities, physical structures and even history, he studies how it has the capacity to alter public perception.

Nilanjan Das graduated from Rabindra Bharati University with a MFA and BFA from the Graphics Department. Presently he is researching gendered interaction in public spaces through public performances and printmaking. Besides his personal practice, he is also working as a trustee and artist in Hamdasti, a Kolkata based art collective focused on community-based art.