Afrah Shafiq's first solo show I Fell Asleep a Believer and Woke Up an Atheist revolves around the findings encountered by the artist during her extensive research (2020- 2023) into the phenomenon of Illustrated Children's books from the Soviet Union that were widely popular in India during the Cold War years, and culminated in a narrative video game Nobody Knows for Certain that was released in early 2023 to be shown internationally throughout the year in venues ranging from Dhaka Art Summit in February to Berlin's HKW in September.
The show features NKFC and Soviet children's books as the key visual and narrative sources, but opens a treasure trove of separate stories, starting with typewriter drawings that intuitively outline the links between the nonsense verse of Daniil Kharms (1905-1942) and Kazimir Malevich's suprematism (1879-1935). Moving on to the series of small-scale red on white Slavic embroidery works and a mosaic piece that serves as a reflection on women's tears as encountered in the fairytales and folklore the show culminates with Shafiq's newest quest game centered upon the female protagonist of a bride who cannot stop crying on her wedding day. These seemingly unrelated subjects are interwoven through the theme of political and private transformations which is essential to Shafiq's current artistic practice
Experimenter was co-founded by Prateek & Priyanka Raja in 2009. With a multidisciplinary approach, the gallery is an incubator for an ambitious and challenging contemporary practice. The program represents some of the most critical contemporary artists worldwide. Considered to be a ‘pace-setter’ for its region, the program extends from exhibition-making, to knowledge creation, through regular talks, performances, workshops and most importantly, through it’s much acclaimed, annual curatorial intensive, Experimenter Curators’ Hub. In 2016, its artist-book publishing wing, Experimenter Books was launched. Experimenter’s program is rooted in dialogue and dissent. In 2018, the Experimenter Learning Program (ELP) was launched. ELP enables discussion, debate and learning in fields of contemporary and performing arts, curatorship, film, writing, language and social culture. In 2019, Experimenter Outpost an iterative exhibitions program outside the physical gallery where an extension of the program temporarily inhabits disused, characterful spaces was launched. In 2020, Experimenter Labs, an inclusive, experimental, online platform in addition to the onsite gallery programming was launched. Its third space Experimenter – Colaba, established in 2022, underscores the commitment of its discursive programming to Mumbai, a city that in turn represents the diverse pluralities of the region.
