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Photograph showing the interior of a Mylar cylinder painted with an image of a woman with a sword, a skeletal goat, and a red sphere.

Nalini Malani:
Vision in Motion

Nalini Malani:
Vision in Motion

7 Dec 2021
4 Sept 2022
Location: The Studio

The trailblazer of experimental animation in the past fifty years.

Widely recognised as a pioneer of video art and experimental film, Nalini Malani is one of the most prolific cross-disciplinary artists working today. Her fantastical and multilayered creations, which are informed by her early experiences as a refugee following the partition of India in 1947, express a resolute commitment to investigating the effects of war, violence, and the repression of women. Malani’s animations and installations, as well as her paintings and performances, feature imagery that feels both personal and universal. Vision in Motion brings together three major artworks—Utopia (1969–1976), Remembering Mad Meg (2007–2019), and Can You Hear Me (2018–2020)—showcasing the evolution of her practice over the past fifty years as she embraced new technologies and ways of working. The exhibition highlights the artist’s distinctive methods of storytelling, which have the power to transcend the traumas of national divisions and address collective issues of social injustice.

Objects on Display

Photograph showing a room with projections on each of the walls. Several Mylar cylinders are hanging from the ceiling with lights glowing from within.

Nalini Malani. Remembering Mad Meg, 2007–2019. Four-channel video installation with sound, sixteen light projections, eight reverse painted Mylar cylinders. M+, Hong Kong. © Nalini Malani. Photo: Lok Cheng & Dan Leung. M+, Hong Kong

Photograph showing two side-by-side projections. The projection on the left is a monochrome still of half of a woman's face, facing the camera. The projection on the right is an abstract, geometrical model of blue and red building blocks.

Nalini Malani. Utopia, 1969–1976. Two-channel video installation with sound: 16mm film transferred to digital video (black and white, silent) and 8mm stop-motion animation film transferred to digital video (colour, silent). 3 min 49 sec. M+, Hong Kong. © Nalini Malani. Photo: Lok Cheng & Dan Leung. M+, Hong Kong

Photograph showing a dark room with a grid of eight projections on the wall. Each shows various human-like figures, scribbles, and blotches of white, beige, black, red, and blue.

Nalini Malani. Can You Hear Me?,  2018–2020. Nine-channel digital video installation with sound. Loan courtesy of the artist. © Nalini Malani. Photo: Lok Cheng & Dan Leung. M+, Hong Kong.

Photograph showing a room with projections on each of the walls. Several Mylar cylinders are hanging from the ceiling with lights glowing from within.

Nalini Malani. Remembering Mad Meg, 2007–2019. Four-channel video installation with sound, sixteen light projections, eight reverse painted Mylar cylinders. M+, Hong Kong. © Nalini Malani. Photo: Lok Cheng & Dan Leung. M+, Hong Kong

Photograph showing two side-by-side projections. The projection on the left is a monochrome still of half of a woman's face, facing the camera. The projection on the right is an abstract, geometrical model of blue and red building blocks.

Nalini Malani. Utopia, 1969–1976. Two-channel video installation with sound: 16mm film transferred to digital video (black and white, silent) and 8mm stop-motion animation film transferred to digital video (colour, silent). 3 min 49 sec. M+, Hong Kong. © Nalini Malani. Photo: Lok Cheng & Dan Leung. M+, Hong Kong

Photograph showing a dark room with a grid of eight projections on the wall. Each shows various human-like figures, scribbles, and blotches of white, beige, black, red, and blue.

Nalini Malani. Can You Hear Me?,  2018–2020. Nine-channel digital video installation with sound. Loan courtesy of the artist. © Nalini Malani. Photo: Lok Cheng & Dan Leung. M+, Hong Kong.

Photograph showing a room with projections on each of the walls. Several Mylar cylinders are hanging from the ceiling with lights glowing from within.

Nalini Malani. Remembering Mad Meg, 2007–2019. Four-channel video installation with sound, sixteen light projections, eight reverse painted Mylar cylinders. M+, Hong Kong. © Nalini Malani. Photo: Lok Cheng & Dan Leung. M+, Hong Kong

Photograph showing two side-by-side projections. The projection on the left is a monochrome still of half of a woman's face, facing the camera. The projection on the right is an abstract, geometrical model of blue and red building blocks.

Nalini Malani. Utopia, 1969–1976. Two-channel video installation with sound: 16mm film transferred to digital video (black and white, silent) and 8mm stop-motion animation film transferred to digital video (colour, silent). 3 min 49 sec. M+, Hong Kong. © Nalini Malani. Photo: Lok Cheng & Dan Leung. M+, Hong Kong

Photograph showing a dark room with a grid of eight projections on the wall. Each shows various human-like figures, scribbles, and blotches of white, beige, black, red, and blue.

Nalini Malani. Can You Hear Me?,  2018–2020. Nine-channel digital video installation with sound. Loan courtesy of the artist. © Nalini Malani. Photo: Lok Cheng & Dan Leung. M+, Hong Kong.

Photograph showing a room with projections on each of the walls. Several Mylar cylinders are hanging from the ceiling with lights glowing from within.

Nalini Malani. Remembering Mad Meg, 2007–2019. Four-channel video installation with sound, sixteen light projections, eight reverse painted Mylar cylinders. M+, Hong Kong. © Nalini Malani. Photo: Lok Cheng & Dan Leung. M+, Hong Kong

Photograph showing two side-by-side projections. The projection on the left is a monochrome still of half of a woman's face, facing the camera. The projection on the right is an abstract, geometrical model of blue and red building blocks.

Nalini Malani. Utopia, 1969–1976. Two-channel video installation with sound: 16mm film transferred to digital video (black and white, silent) and 8mm stop-motion animation film transferred to digital video (colour, silent). 3 min 49 sec. M+, Hong Kong. © Nalini Malani. Photo: Lok Cheng & Dan Leung. M+, Hong Kong

Photograph showing a dark room with a grid of eight projections on the wall. Each shows various human-like figures, scribbles, and blotches of white, beige, black, red, and blue.

Nalini Malani. Can You Hear Me?,  2018–2020. Nine-channel digital video installation with sound. Loan courtesy of the artist. © Nalini Malani. Photo: Lok Cheng & Dan Leung. M+, Hong Kong.

About the Artist

Born in Karachi, British India (now Pakistan) in 1946, Mumbai-based Nalini Malani works at the intersection of film, video, installation, painting, and performance. She is internationally renowned for her reverse paintings and immersive multimedia installations which often combine personal narrative with motifs from folklore, classical literature, and mythology to reflect on the collective trauma of the disenfranchised.

Portrait of Nalini Malani

Portrait of Nalini Malani, 2019. Photo: Johan Pijnappel. Courtesy of the artist

Nalini Malani and Doryun Chong on shadow play as a creative medium
Nalini Malani and Doryun Chong on shadow play as a creative medium
14:41
Nalini Malani and Doryun Chong on iPad drawings and Instagram
Nalini Malani and Doryun Chong on iPad drawings and Instagram
12:38

Download

Nalini Malani: Vision in Motion pdf

Image at top: Details of Remembering Mad Meg , 2007–2019. Four-channel video installation with sound, sixteen light projections, eight reverse painted Mylar cylinders. M+, Hong Kong. © Nalini Malani. Photo: Lok Cheng & Dan Leung. M+, Hong Kong

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