Apnavi Thacker

Bio
Born in Bombay, India and brought up in Geneva, Switzerland, Apnavi Thacker grew up benefiting from two very different cultures. Her experiences in both cities have had a major impact on her work. Apnavi is a self-taught artist, although she gained valuable knowledge and experience during her two years of training under the guidance of Bose Krishnamachari. Her work addresses such issues as the possible link between a woman and her self-confidence and level of comfort with her sexuality, and the impact of urban development on the environment. Her work retains a focus on street art, common in most cities around the world although it remains non-existent in Bombay. Apnavi has exhibited in Bombay in both solo and group shows. This includes the Mumbai Festival in 2005, for which she was commissioned to do a single piece inspired by her thoughts on the city of Bombay, and the Kala Ghoda festival in 2006 for which she created an installation consisting of urinals. The works represent a continuation of themes based on urban development.

Artist Statement
Moral Police Me is a sardonic reaction to the Indian “Moral Police” that has been pushing its agenda of gender based social bigotry nationwide. Their unjustifiable, overt acts of violence, particularly in Baroda and Mangalore, raised a number of issues that Thacker felt compelled to explore; notwithstanding the more severe vein of moral policing that throbs under this culture’s surface on a quotidian level.

Thacker wanted this work to be sexually charged in a non-apologetic manner. The stencils and images juxtapose masturbation, fetishism, eroticism, and sensuality. These wheat-pasted images evoke the notion of punishment and in turn morph punishment into pleasure. The “moral police me” tags are a blatantly defiant challenge. The torn images of the Kamasutra imply an act of censorship and violence, emulating the Moral Police and their sociocultural “norms” that deny any form of physical intimacy, let alone lust or sexual promiscuity that may have existed in our history. The rigid tones of monochromatic imagery contrasting with the spills and drips of color imply sexual impulses that cannot be controlled or governed, no matter how much the self-proclaimed guardians of “Indian values” try to stifle them.

Work Details:

Moral Police Me
Mixed media on canvas
60″ x 84″
2007/2008