Debashish Paul's 'A Thousand Years Of Dreaming' Looks At Small-Town India Through A Queer Lens

A barefoot man in a sculptural paper dress and large, spherical mask walks the banks of the Ganges in Varanasi. The stretched, graffiti-ed garment and fantastical headgear transform his body into something more than itself: something haunting and holy. His surreal form and fluid movements queer the sacred river and the ancient city. This is Debashish Paul’s ‘Beyond the Body and Gender’ — a performance piece that blends sculpture and performance art and explores the idea of the queer body and identity in a society dominated by heterosexual norms. In the concept note for ‘Beyond the Body and Gender’, Paul writes, “I seek to expand and explore the tabooed conception of homosexuality by unveiling the body, treating it as a tender landscape, and generating new references to queer identities.”

A multi-disciplinary artist known for his unique performance style, Paul uses dresses and masks which indicate no specific gender orientation and automatic movements that conceal and reveal his private emotions and sensibilities. He explores the possibilities for repair, reconciliation, and consolation through ritual-play using various media like drawing, painting, sculpture, performance, sound, photo, and videography in his practice.

Paul considers the meticulous process of foraging, cutting, pasting, and layering in the sculptural dresses made from Nepali handmade paper as part of the transformation process of the body: treating it like an unfolding within the landscape that inspires the conceptual framework.

‘A Thousand Years of Dreaming’, his first solo exhibition at Emami Art, Kolkata, includes performance stills, drawings, and sculptures created around ‘Hazaro Saalon ka Sapna’, a two-part film set in Benares (Varanasi), that examines queer desires against the backdrop of small-town socio-politics that force queer men in smaller towns and cities to marry women and conceal their queer identities and desires.

The first part of the film enacts the story of a distant, seemingly impossible marriage between two men — complete with a wedding band, a white horse, and the intimate protagonists adorned in flowers. The second part follows a reversal of this dream scenario — the painful process of masking and shedding; washing and soaking; and frustration and exhaustion resulting from the constant posturing and concealment of their queer identities and desires.

The new exhibition, curated by Mario D'Souza, explores the complexity of these queer men leading double lives and concealing their identities from family and society and the marginalisation they face in small-town India through masked and costumed ritual-play inspired by the autobiographical-fantastical experience of Paul's own romantic relationships.

"Over the past few years, I have connected with queer individuals from rural areas who come to the city for education while concealing their sexual identities," the artist says. "Interviews with them reveal a deep fear of coming out due to societal pressures. Many feel trapped, planning to marry women to satisfy family expectations, reflecting the strong family bonds in India. Through my work, I aim to highlight these personal and societal struggles, drawing from my experiences to advocate for a more fluid and inclusive society, while respecting cultural and ritualistic contexts. By engaging with history and mythology, particularly through the lens of Banaras, I envision a future where my personal relationships and artistic expressions reveal the hidden aspects of my true self, blending love, sorrow, pain, dreams, and imagination."

‘A Thousand Years of Dreaming’ opens September 6 at Emami Art, Kolkata.

Follow Debashish Paul here.

If you enjoyed reading this, here's more from Homegrown:

Sam Madhu's Digital Art Series Aims To Reclaim South Asian Beauty From Its Colonial Past

'We Are Lady Parts' Explores Muslim Identity Through An All-Women Punk Band

Gary Curzai's Designs Are Driven By A Fascination With His Own Multicultural Identity