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HIGHLIGHTS OF THE MONTH
The Stillness We Carry is a performance-based film by Aparna that explores the tension between societal expectation and personal autonomy. Drawing from lived experience, the work confronts the inherited burdens of tradition, culture, and gender, asking: What does it mean to bear a legacy you did not choose?
Filmed in the ruins of the 17th-century Alamparai Fort on the outskirts of Chennai, the site—once a thriving hub of empire and trade—now stands as a crumbling monument to the passage of time. This abandoned space becomes both setting and metaphor for the emotional erosion caused by generational pressure.
Through its poetic structure, the film meditates on the fragility of human agency within systems of power, inviting viewers into a liminal space where restraint and resistance coexist. The Stillness We Carry offers an immersive reflection on autonomy, entrapment, and the elusive possibility of transcendence.
Lithos is a performance without time limitations.
The work investigates the universal condition of collective blindness, embodied by the mask worn by the artist, a symbol of voluntary servitude to internalized social norms. These deeply ingrained beliefs render us incapable of perceiving the blood and pain we perpetuate daily.
Drawing on the reflections of Byung-Chul Han, the performance exposes how social and cultural structures shape perception, judgment, and action. Lithos challenges viewers to confront their conditioned vision, deconstruct internalized narratives, and acknowledge individual responsibility.
The performance, repeatable at the artist’s discretion, transforms each gesture into a critical reflection on perception, power, and the invisible dynamics of society.
Nourish and nourish through fluids, a direct and constant contact of connection with nature. The need for connection with the Earth, with the natural elements, even the most raw and violent. The motivation comes from a deep terror towards the social dynamics that are part of my daily life, of which I fear I am a voluntary slave. The need to dig and search for the truth of existence.
