The Presence of the Past
Personal Project | Installation
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I created this piece in 2016. The aspiration for this piece was to serve as a reminder that the world forever lives under the shadow of eminent war. The current Russia and Ukraine unrest, almost instantly has the world aware, once again, of the powers at play and the insignificance of individual lives in our time.
"Oh, just another kind of outdoor game / One on a side" - Frost's lines describe the Cold War with dark irony as a game of one-upmanship between the USA and the USSR as they courted allies and formed enemies to polarise the world into two camps. The recent face-off over Ukraine between these two camps is a stark reminder of how the world will always be in the shadow of war.
This piece is inspired by world events. It is my attempt at capturing our bleak reality. "War is when innocent people are killed for the interests of others". The the sad irony is that "War" is considered the most effective method to resolve differences.
The Cold war is one such example where 2 countries were on the verge of engaging in nuclear war, endangering human existence. The Russian invasion of Ukraine is sadly another perfect example of war being treated like a game, a badminton game, with the shuttle going to and fro.
