Date: 12th June, 2025
NOBODY, SOMEBODY
When I break this mirror, am I breaking the image of the perfect mother, the perfect wife, the female artist? Am I breaking the image I have upheld of my self? The mirror held to my eye, after all, is only a medium for image-formation. And by breaking this mirror, am I propagating the cycle by forming and attaching myself to a new image?
In this performance, I alternate between being a “Nobody” and a “Somebody.” I vocalise these sentiments, swinging between the extremes of perception that societal structures box us into. There is no distinction between the image-making mirror and the image-making mind: both earnestly reflect what they are shown. Narcissistic structures rely on the illusion of control, admiration, and reflection; and its victims pay the price by internalising and regurgitating them. This piece critiques this loop: the polished self curated for acceptance, the performance mistaken for identity, and the splitting of the self into hollow images of worthy/unworthy.
The disconnect between the self and the worth of the body ascribed to it by societal structures is explored in the subsequent evocations: no-body/some-body.
As the image-making mirror is broken into shards of glass, the self becomes disfigured and eventually fades from view. Finally, one is left with only a single utterance: “Anybody?”
-Text by Pragati Dalvi Jain
Pragati Dalvi Jain has a decade-long practice of bridging social and cultural divides across vast geographical distances. Her conceptual works delve into systemic blind spots in social contexts where unseeing becomes normalized, fostering othering through socio-economic and cultural paradigms.
Through her research-driven projects, Pragati Dalvi Jain brings marginalized individuals, often relegated to the periphery of society, into the spotlight. Her exploration of public and private spaces examines how bodily expressions reflect societal prejudices and inhibitions. Key projects include her study of matrophobia, identity, and loneliness in motherhood during her Harvard University fellowship and her work on rare medical conditions like Fibrodysplasia Ossificans Progressiva (FOP), where physical constraints contrast with untethered emotions and desires.
Her project, Tin Soldiers, utilized performance art to raise awareness of FOP's impact on patients and caregivers, challenging societal perceptions of disability. Her multidisciplinary approach, spanning painting, performance, and conceptual art explores the interplay between body, mind, and identity.
Leadership, for Pragati Dalvi Jain, begins with self-awareness. Her art invites audiences to confront their biases, embrace responsibility, and engage with tolerance and respect. Guided by the proverb Start cleaning your own backyard, she emphasizes personal accountability as the foundation for collective coexistence. She believes true harmony requires dialogue, empathy, and active resolution of conflicts, fostering a society enriched by its diversity.
Her solo exhibitions include Shapes of Unseen Voices (2024, Bengaluru), Breathing Spaces (2020, Bulthaup, Bengaluru), among others. Her work has also been featured in several notable group exhibitions, including Ephemerides (2025, APRE Art House, Mumbai), Women in South Asia: Expectations, Burdens and Obligations (2021, Mittal Institute, Harvard University), Royal Watercolour Society (2020, London), among others.
She lives and works in Bangalore.