Child Performer I

The Seventies was an interesting decade for Nalini Malani who had travelled to France and New York and was brimming with ideas to infuse a new energy in her art but also in her role as a curator of subsequent group exhibitions. On her return, she moved to Lohar Chawl in Bombay, a bustling wholesale market, her work reflecting the lives of middle-class Indian families as well as pavement dwellers. It’s a possibility that the figure in Child Performer I belongs to this area.