User:Abhijitapaul

Proscenium of the Absurd

‘Man can choose to embrace his own absurd condition, man's freedom, and the opportunity to give life meaning, lies in the acknowledgment and acceptance of absurdity. If the absurd experience is truly the realization that the universe is fundamentally devoid of absolutes, then we as individuals are truly free.’-Camus

I have tried to re-create the Proscenium of the Absurd where everyone and anyone can exist with their own values constantly shifting the entire narrative.

The problem of starkness and hopelessness portrayed in my movie is developed from an essay, "The Myth of Sisyphus" (1942), by great French Existentialist, Albert Camus (1913-1960). In Greek mythology, Sisyphus, had once deceived the gods and cheated death, and was condemned for eternity to roll a stone up a hill. Every time the task was about to complete, the stone would roll free back down to the bottom of the hill. Thus, the punishment of Sisyphus was an exercise in futility. Through my works I am trying to inquire into the predetermined conclusiveness of a given narrative. Besides, trying to explore the possible conclusions of any given storyline and opening it to the viewers to interpret these texts in their own individual context. I am presently concerned with the idea of ‘existence’ of being and its relativity with their corresponding value.

I was also interested in the narrative stylization of fables that have consciously or unconsciously formulated final notions about beings, objects and their conclusion operates to define ‘value’. Fables are just one such mode that operates to define the entire value system in a society. There are several other such socio-cultural institutes, through which these fixed notions flow into the society and the realm of the mind.

At first glance my works seem to represent a direct composition depicting so called ‘real’ space dotted with mundane objects, yet after a while the reality shifts in front of the eyes of the onlooker. This heightened air of solitude gives rise to questions of ‘existence’ of each object within the frame. However, when the viewer tries to decipher the hidden narrative, it remains ambiguous, as the objects or the beings, in these frames are free and independent of any coherent narration.