May Hema Upadhyay’s Thoughtful Work Prevail
I’ve often walked the fragrant ‘avenues’ of Maker Maxity in Bandra Kurla Complex, taking a peek through the buffed glass doors at the artworks the building is famous for. The exhibit that I have always had mixed feelings for is one that is suspended from a high ceiling in a building that accommodates international financial firms. It’s titled ‘Planet Bombay’ (2008) — a remarkably lifelike spherical scale model of the city, warts and all, composed of scrap car metal and tin.
At first pass, I read it like a cynical appropriation of the reality of crores of Mumbaikars, smartly packaged as corporate decoration. Did no one see the irony of looking at these cheek-by-jowl structures, this tactile representation of claustrophobia, in one of the city’s most expensive fragments of real estate? It was only over time and repeated viewings that I came to realise that this discomfort was precisely the impact that the artist was aiming at: ‘Planet Bombay’ is a kind of memento mori, a constant reminder of the sharp, messy reality surrounding BKC’s cocooned environs. By then, I had also begun to understand the deep, personal engagement of its artist: Hema Upadhyay.
That name is now forever going to be yoked to something vastly different. It’s painful to realise that in public consciousness, Upadhyay’s life might be defined by her death; that her artistic merit will completely be overshadowed by the sordid details of her brutal murder. I did not know Upadhyay personally, but have been reading, with growing sorrow, heartbreaking notes from those who did. So I will remember her through her expansive body of work, as the artist who brought a miniaturist’s eye and discipline to contemporary themes, including migration and urban spaces.
Upadhyay’s obsession with detail and precision has routinely popped up in all discussions about her. It is as evident in her sculptural work — the installation ‘Loco-Foco-Motto’ (2003), comprising thousands of matchsticks glued together to form a chandelier, is an excellent example — as are her paintings, especially from the gorgeous 2008 suite ‘Yours Sincerely’. In the latter, the artist inserted herself into intricate, ornamental panels, a leitmotif that has been present in her work since the early 2000s.
The most poignant example is the large, spare painting, “I Have a Feeling that I Belong”. The 2001 work portrayed the artist looking out at the city she had declared her home.
According to Sameera Khan, one of the three authors of the landmark Why Loiter?, the painting nearly became the book’s cover. As the news story around Upadhyay’s death develops, I am reminded that all remembrance is eventually a kind of myth making. I hope against hope that the only myths that endure about Hema Upadhyay, are the ones surrounding her thoughtful work.