The lowly slipper has risen to claim its latest victim. A hapless German-English dictionary serves to confront our notions of propriety. Almost comically undersized, it brings to mind the uniquely Indian mob justice netted out to criminals, where a beating with the slipper in public is considered a massive insult. Alternatively, you can also read it as the elevation of the humble slipper to the vahaan of the mighty beacon of knowledge.

Squeezed in, bottled and pickled into a life of holy matrimony, the enforced closeness brought on by the lockdown has forced relationships, no matter how amorous earlier, to chafe, exacerbating relationships. And yet they must appear strangely comfortable, wearing each other down as the months drag on. A microcosm of the idea of marriage, a relationship in a bottle.

Of all the prompts, Praveen was most inspired to take up the shadow box, the work of Joseph Cornell having the most impact. This work is his first take on the medium, an experiment that blends the found object with his narrative objective. An old clock finds itself ripped of its innards and repurposed to represent the cosmos, the swinging pendulum head a mere apparition floating through existence.

Praveen’s development through the Residency is evident in this finely nuanced shadow box, that seeks subconscious visual cues from the works of the master Joseph Cornell. Working once again with found objects Praveen crafts a tale of nature’s cycle where prey-predator are entwined. And yet it is the human element that overrides all other destructive factors.