Farmer is a Wrestler - Lexicon of Distress | 2021

Farmer is s Wrestler – Lexicon of Distress

“Farmer’s fate: a life that is suspended in limbo”

Farmer is a Wrestler: A Lexicon of Distress, 2021 is a website-specific digital artwork acknowledging the farmers’ movement in India. This 7th iteration of “Farmer is a Wrestler” is not a site of protest, but a safe space to inform and comprehend the situation of Indian farmers who are questioning their rights, existence, and daily survival in a world that is increasingly authoritarian and privatized.

The artist-duo attempts to comprehend the intricate details of the lives, trials, and tribulations of the agricultural community by drawing parallels between a farmer and a wrestler by highlighting this precarious aspect of the farmer’s fate.

A Lexicon of Distress, 2021, Thukral & Tagra have created a digital lexicon of terms that are integral to understanding the characteristics of the Indian farming community. As the viewer scrolls through the lexicon, images, and illustrations depicting the ever-shifting landscape of farming float in the suspended space, creating a tiered, capricious and unstable environment.

The artists’ implicit response to the current socio-political circumstances exhibits a perspective to underline issues that can help raise public awareness through an empathetic approach.

Art at a Time Like This was founded on March 17, 2020 by independent curators Barbara Pollack and Anne Verhallen who saw the need for a new kind of alternative space to address the pandemic and other crises. We perpetually address the question, ‘How Can We Think of Art at a Time Like This?’ In a series of online exhibitions, artists and curators have engaged with this question, from our inaugural exhibition–which attracted over 200,000 viewers in its first three months–to monthly shows confronting not only the pandemic but also Black Lives Matter, systemic justice, the Climate Emergency, New Delhi’s Farmer Revolution, gender discrimination, human rights violations in Hong Kong, the fragility of democracy in the US and many other issues.

Diversity is a key concern for Art at a Time Like This. Our exhibitions highlight the accomplishments of BIPOC, AAPI, LGBTQ and feminist artists and curators as well as many participants from Africa and Asia. Our work has created a repository of today’s most vital and urgent artworks at the juncture of art and politics.

Read more at : https://thukralandtagra.com/artattimeslikethis/