Untitled

Rm. Palaniappan’s quasi-abstract prints, as demonstrated by this Untitled work, seem to originate from deep inside the bureaucratic machineries of contemporary nation states. By deploying various charts and tables, the artist reminds the viewer to rethink the historical enterprise of objective mapping and ordered categorisation undertaken by colonial states. Stamp marks, emergence of lines and other manual handwritten notes accentuate the notion of political legitimacy exercised by the polity, while the deployment of satellite imagery hints at technology-enabled panopticism in Western visual culture.