The Open Studio / Boini Madhusudan
Boini Madhusudan
Who playing
Two empty chairs face a stage no one has stepped onto yet
Dusk the colour of wet slate settles on the dry field.
Two lamps on thin poles throw white light onto a small red stage.
No one is dancing there yet.
Below, two plastic chairs wait beside a dropped microphone.
The ground is cracked like old paint.
Far off, other tents stand on other hills of earth.
Someone will come. Someone will play. Someone decides who.
The work
Boini Madhusudan studies at SN School of Arts and Communication in Hyderabad. Boini's work comes from Veedhi Bhagavatham, a traditional street theatre performed in temporary tents. In this gouache from 2025 the stage sits empty on a mound of earth. Two lights cross above it. Two plastic chairs and a microphone wait below. Words in Telugu ask who makes others play and who plays. Boini wants to show how the roles people play can cover who they really are.
In the artist’s words
“My practice investigates the internal conflict between performative identity and the authentic self. It draws on the visual language and live intensity of Veedhi Bhagavatham, traditional street theatre performed in temporary tents. The performers wear masks not only for their roles but also as a daily requirement. I reimagine the tent as both a stage and a landscape.”
- Theme
- Performance and the hidden self
- Material
- Gouache on paper
- Size
- 42 × 59 cm
- Year
- 2025
- Edition
- 1
- Framed
- No
- About the artist
- Sn school of arts and communication
- From
- Hyderabad
- Code
- RC-438
