Pratul Dash – In the Twilight Zone

INDIRA LAKSMI PRASAD

Delhi Based, Odisha born artist Pratul Dash held his first solo show in 8 years at the Indira Gandhi International Center for the Arts in March 2018, titled ‘In The Twilight Zone’.

A term coined to describe the work of Pratul Dash is ‘Seductive Realism’ which is an apt expression when it comes to the stylistic methods utilized in the works. At first glance, upon entering the gallery space, the works are beautiful to behold, having been skillfully and intricately rendered by the artist.

The gallery is filled with hues of the night sky, natural imagery, and the innocence of youth, leaping deer, majestic stags, and vibrant butterflies against a backdrop of twilight. We are lured into the frame by the rich imagery, perhaps moreso here in Delhi where natural form is a distant reality far removed from the metropolis… However once the work has captured our gaze, layer upon layer of metaphor begins to unfold before us.

Previously Dash’s work dealt with the concept of displacement as a central theme. Having relocated to Delhi from Odisha, the artist states that displacement has been a constant factor throughout his life. Born in the city of Burla, West Odisha, Pratul Dash states that it was in fact before he left his hometown that notions of displacement started to become a central theme in his thought process. The artist reminisces about his hometown; although Burla is a fairly small town, it is cosmopolitan by nature due to the emergence of the Hirakud Dam and the subsequent influx of migrant laborers and engineers from other states. In fact, the town was built upon displacement itself, not only due to the influx of migrant workers, but also the gradual disappearance of many of the small villages bordering the dam. When he shifted to Bhubaneswar for graduation, his first hand experience of displacement began, and even more so a second time when he eventually shifted to Delhi. The bustling metropolis of Delhi is even more of a hotspot for many migrant workers seeking opportunity, in the artists own words ‘When I came to Delhi it was a shocking experience for me because it is a much larger cosmopolitan city. Over a hundred years or so it has lost a lot of culture, as though the lineage of cultural development has not been recorded. I felt insecure in a way, even now that I have a home here it’s still difficult for me to accept that this is my hometown now.’ No doubt a sentiment shared with many, the world over.


The body of works ‘In The Twilight Zone’ evolves away from the personal notion of displacement, and toward the looming environmental crisis which humanity is in the midst of. The artist comments ‘In this body of works, I have purely represented environmental issues and the relationship between man and nature. The kind of background I have come from, I saw the synchronization of man and nature, which is being lost.’ He reflects on the economic revolution which began in India in the 2000’s, when the image of the country began to change in a global context, which coincided with the rapid, excessive deforestation around the city. In his last body of work the economic revolution was explored in the context of human displacement, and in this body of work the emphasis has shifted to the environmental degradation which has consequentially unfolded in the years following.