Having lived close to nature and tended to an array of injured/abandoned non humans, even in urban setups somehow Shanu Lahiri’s works seem to organically embrace the other. The works, though not chronologically structured, narrate an attempt to initiate an understanding of the tautly layered transactional nature of being. It is an eclectic selection whose charm lies in its very avoidance of a rigid order.

Birds. Monkeys. Blue cats. Pink and purple leopards and elephants, neck-less birds. Owly men or manly owls? Seemingly none of them bound by socially constructed norms. Or colours. Myriad energies working side by side or together. The works perhaps, nourished by bacteria, non humans or the flow of nature. What must the artist be thinking of!

Often through her palate, she allows the viewer a glimpse into her world of distinctive style and imagery – sweeping brushlines, powerful contours, doodles, striking economies of line and tone – all of which blend compellingly with the more real and immediate concerns of co-existence and interconnectedness. Coactivity between humans and non-humans, between non-humans and non-humans, recur in her artistic spaces. An owl and a monkey propped over a wall, watching two humans, echo Lacan’s observation on how the world is an ‘omnivoyeur’: I see only from one point, but in my existence, I am looked at from all sides.

Effortlessly the back of a crocodile serves as the terra firma for a rock and roll band just as naturally the monkey, the bird and the woman seem to display a few snatched moments of camaraderie. The flexibility and elasticity of cats seem to be an abiding pre-occupation – cats with crabs, cats with each other, cat in dog’s mouth, suave cat “smoking” fish bone…

One hopes the selection ignites questions, generates conversations in an attempt to experience Asia’s imaginary and real non-humans and humans together.