The Human Spirit: Propositions on Resilience in these Irregular Times:

a virtual Indo-Korean Ceramic and Glass exhibition

The Human Spirit: Propositions on Resilience in these Irregular Times.

Virtual group exhibition of ceramic and glass art by Korean and Indian artists.

This exhibition looks at the artistic interpretations of the concept of resilience of the human spirit especially post Covid pandemic, through the medium of ceramic and glass. Both are transformed through fire into new states of being. We examine the metaphor of rejuvenation, transformation, fluidity and permeability as attributes of both ceramics and glass through figurative, abstract and natural forms.

Names of participating Korean and Indian artists:

• Choi Hye Sook, Seoul
• Dipalee Daroz, New Delhi
• Hu Jung Eun, Seoul
• Jung Kwang Min, Gyeonggi-do
• Kang Kyoung Youn, Gyeonggi-do
• Lee Jae Joon, Gyeonggi-do
• Lee Tae Hoon, Gyeonggi-do
• Madhur Sen, New Delhi

• Oh Jung Sun, Seoul
• Rhee In Sook, Seoul
• Sisir Sahana, Shanti Niketan
• Srila Mookherjee, Kolkata
• Swagata Naidu, Ahmedabad
• Thomas Louis, Goa
• Trupti Patel, Baroda
• Vineeta Oswal & Manoj Pilli, Ahmedabad

VIRTUAL EXHIBITION

VIEW
CATALOGUE

The exhibition will be on view until Thursday, 31 March 2022.


Creative Conversations:

Creative Conversations are interactive sessions, presented in association with academic institutions of national importance in Korea and India, complement The Human Spirit: Propositions on Resilience in these Irregular Times, an ongoing Indo-Korean virtual Ceramic and Glass exhibition at Prism, InKo Centre's virtual gallery. These conversations, periodically presented, aim to introduce and connect participating artists with students, fellow-practitioners and viewers.

Join us for the ongoing conversations titled The Human Spirit: Artistic Interpretations, respectively to meet the Korean and Indian artists and our curators who discuss the curatorial, conceptual and making practices that culminated in the exhibition.

Interaction with students and faculty of Seoul National Institute of Science and Technology.

Date: Friday, 18 March 2022 | Time: 11 a.m. IST / 2:30 p.m. KST



CREATIVE CONVERSATIONS IV :
Interaction with students and faculty of Hongik University, Korea.

17 March 2022 at 11 a.m. IST / 2:30 p.m. KST

YOUTUBE

CREATIVE CONVERSATIONS III :
Interaction with students and faculty of Kala Bhawan, Shanti Niketan, Kolkata.

12 February 2022 at 4.00 pm IST

YOUTUBE

CREATIVE CONVERSATIONS II :
Interaction with students and faculty of the NID, Ahmedabad.

5 February 2022 at 4.00 pm IST

YOUTUBE

CREATIVE CONVERSATIONS I :
The Human Spirit: Artistic Interpretations.

29 January 2022 at 4.00 pm IST

YOUTUBE

Comprising a virtual walkthrough, short videos about the artists' work processes; informative notes from the curators and a comprehensive list of relevant artworks, the exhibition invites you on a journey of discovery of the aesthetic beauty and finesse of technique of ceramic and glass work by exceptionally talented artists from India and Korea.

Following the inauguration, complementary discussions and interactions will be presented at regular intervals, up to the close of the exhibition.

About the Curators:

Kristine Michael (India) and MuLim Park (Korea)

Kristine Michael is a ceramic artist and designer from National Institute of Design Ahmedabad, based in New Delhi. She is an arts educator, independent researcher, writer and curator, currently completing her PhD in art history from School of Arts and Aesthetics JNU.

MuLim Park secured a BFA in Ceramics from Hongik University, Korea in 1991. In 1996, he completed a BFA from the California Institute of Arts, U.S.A. and he secured an MFA from the same Institute in 1998. As an artist, he has participated in solo and group shows in Korea, Germany and has participated in workshops, conferences and residencies in Korea, Germany and Japan. He has curated several small and large-scale exhibitions in Seoul, Korea, in Eindhoven, Netherlands and in Singapore, to critical acclaim. As an arts administrator, he has been involved with the Mullae Art Space as a Committee Member, as a Non-executive Board Member of Junggu Cultural Foundation and as a Member of the Governance Committee for the Seoul Artists’ Platform. He has also managed Alternative Gallery Space operations such as the Jungdabang Project, The 3rd Place and Artspace Seoul13. For the exhibition at Prism, InKo Centre’s virtual gallery, MuLim has selected 8 Korean artists - 4 ceramic and 4 glass artists who show exemplary technique; thought-provoking concepts and finesse of presentation.

Curators' Note:

This exhibition looks at the artistic interpretations of the concept of resilience of the human spirit especially post Covid pandemic, through the mediums of ceramic and glass. Both materials are transformed through fire into new states of being. The curatorial invitation to the Indian and Korean ceramic and glass artists was to consider what ‘The Human Spirit: Resilience in These Irregular Times’ might open up for them, as creative, temporal, material, sensorial and processual provocation. We encouraged them to examine the metaphor of rejuvenation, transformation, fluidity and permeability as attributes of both ceramics and glass through figurative, abstract and natural forms.

Each proposition explored in the exhibition grew organically out of their artistic concerns and eventually became the core theme for each of the online viewing rooms of the exhibition. The first proposition digs deep into the concept of the space between the tangible and the intangible and focuses on the materiality of place/home and the capturing of images of daily experiences and memories as seen in the works by Hu Jung Eun and Trupti Patel. The regenerative capacities within the earth’s natural cycles is explored through the works of Srila Mookherjee and Lee Tae Hoon.

The second proposition speaks eloquently of the anchoring and/or disconnections between nature and man. The glass artworks of Oh Jung Sun, Swagata Naidu, Sisir Sahana and Studio Glassic shape this idea through the expressive use of the qualities of transparency, fluidity and exquisite brilliance of glass that aptly expresses this relationship. The ceramic figurative works of Lee Jae Joon, Kang Kyoung Youn and Madhur Sen speaks of the need to recover the right relationship between mankind and the natural world.

The contemplation and investigation of a punctuated reality was the impetus for the formation of the third proposition. Working on distorted images of artifacts and man-made objects, the ceramic works of Rhee In Sook and Choi Hye Sook’s glass relics of the 21 st century examines the message of impermanence. Jung Kwang Min’s ripple-shaped waves of glass resemble layers of sound waves caused by erosion and echoes Dipalee Daroz’s material manifestations of redundant, broken objects that suggest collective helplessness and the importance of self-questioning.

The aspirational ray of hope emerging out of occasional cracks of luminosity is the fourth proposition on the struggle to survive. The inquiry into concepts of duality infuse the works in glass of Jung Kwang Min, Swagata Naidu and Srila Mookherjee as well as in Rhee In Sook’s ceramic Urban Jungle. Studio Glassic’s metaphor of Atlas dreaming of flight though bound by the weight of existence finds an echo in the ceramic figures of Madhur Sen that speak eloquently of the plight of the underprivileged dealing with an uncertain future.

Kang Kyoung Youn’s ceramic installation is the key expression of the movement of emotions in a contemplative state for the fifth proposition- the metamorphosis of self. The location of the context of memory and reality of home is the subject of the ceramic works of Trupti Patel and Hu Jung Eun. Sisir Sahana, Madhur Sen and Oh Jung Sun’s questioning of mankind’s vision through the medium of glass is a metaphor for this quest of a fresh dialogue.

The last proposition explores resilience as a strength and vulnerability in the search towards a beautiful precarious co-existence. Jung Kwang Min, Sisir Sahana and Srila Mookherjee’s glass artworks evoke the budding of a new age with old seeds using its translucent nature interacting with light. Referencing the building blocks of the concept of the yin-yang, Jung Kwang Min visualises the move towards his depiction of a new relationship with nature, just as Thomas Louis calls for translating one’s vulnerability into a strength by protecting the precious little we have left and nurturing one’s immediate environment by becoming guardian spirits. Kang Kyoung Youn’s dream-like ceramic installation beckons the audience to grasp the positive messages of healing, growth and renewal in the artistic interpretations of courage for the future.

Kristine Michael (India) MuLim Park (Korea)

Acknowledgements:
This exhibition would not have been possible without the support of Rathi Jafer of InKo Centre, Chennai and her talented team. Our thanks too to Raghuram Avula and his team at Studio RDA for all their design inputs to present this online exhibition effectively. We would like to thank all the artists in the exhibition who have taken the concept note to heart and extended themselves creatively, in order to express and interpret the issues raised by the pandemic.

Artists' Statements:

Choi Hye Sook

A relic is defined as a remnant of something left after decay or that which has survived from an earlier era. The remnants of high heels, a purse, and a shopping bag, are in a series of relics that I have created with my imagination of what would be representative of relics of beauty in the early 21st century as viewed from the far future. Those ordinary items can be used as a mean of expressing external beauty more than functionality in the current times. I believe these products have become an obsession amongst the young generation that questions the personal issue of identity in the context of current day societal convention. Carrying luxurious purses or wearing high heels for women in contemporary society has become a means not only to transform completely an outfit for the better but also to provide a boost to self-confidence, although with high heels women have to undergo pain in their feet. Ordinary feminine items such as purses, shoes, and perfume are a vehicle to reflect an obsession with outward appearance and how women in this era define themselves with the use of those items that are derived from the modern standard of beauty created by society. I think a perfume is also one of these ordinary items as a way to look better.

Concerning materials, I use another materiality quality of glass: fragility. By using the medium of glass frits and powder to be seen as very fragile and weak objects such as relics, allows me to convey the message that nothing is permanent. With glass casting technique and flamework, I create old perfume bottles with broken edges which makes the work seem like relics, and to appear as a remnant from the distant past.

Dipalee Daroz

My works are conceptualized between the material manifestation of an object that is tangible, inscribed in form vis-à-vis a concept, that is intangible, immaterial or sensorial. The non-representational, incongruous objects are playing out metaphorically, through the surface, texture and predominantly through the play of color. They all indicate the emotional equilibrium of the challenging time that we witnessed. Suddenly the need to contemplate on the punctuated reality becomes evident. The Question marks, commas and exclamation marks takes the mantle, reminding us the relevance of self-questioning, the importance of spacing between the ideas, or the expression of emphasis on certain things that we attempt to do. In the era of mindlessness of the human deeds, such marks stood strong as a mode of resilience, making us make discerning choices with a clearer vision.

The physical character of the works delineate the conscious manipulation of strange textures of smoky, burnt and coarse surfaces suggesting our collective helplessness. At the same time, a ray of hope emerges out with occasional luminosity that we longed to aspire to. Glistening elements persist between torn, cracked, charred, haunted, dreadful smithereens of emotion. In the technical rendition of my works, I deliberately tried to eschew known processes, releasing all conscious control and submitting to the accidental, in order to make space for the unexpected syncretic to the circumstances that we live in.

Hu Jung Eun

My works combine images collected through daily experiences and memories. I create a new space through the process of capturing and accumulating fragmented images from our everyday relationships. Moments of our lives are overlapped images that endlessly circulate- they float in the air and continuously overlap layer by layer, leaving behind traces of diverse incidents. The desire for non-existent spaces become irrelevant in the process of collecting these images, thus blurring the boundaries between reality and unreality. I try to trace the relationship between image, objects and space using differentiated objects that leave traces of existence and extinction.

The shape of 'house' has emerged in my recent work and this functions as a symbolic space where personal experiences and memories are combined beyond a simple physical space. The single work is composed of overlapping and arranging of units of trees or petals with architectural elements such as houses, windows, and arcades, most of which are images collected from ordinary landscapes. This results in a visualization operation that transforms individual images through repetition and combination. I try to show the process of creating an ideal image by collecting, combining, and superimposing materials that were unconsciously overlooked in the rapidly changing but repetitive daily life. It will provide an opportunity for modern people who are tired of ordinary life to stimulate their inner fantasies and dreams and to heal their psychological minds.

First, the clay is rolled into a plate, and then the simple, natural patterns of plants reminiscent of the leaves of trees or flowers are cut out. Natural hand movements determine the pattern, by using numerous units of organic forms. Harmonious colors with low saturation are used in order to express a refined feeling conveying innocence.

Jung Kwang Min

We now live in the age of image and positioning, as society becomes more consumption-centric. Art is changing at an unprecedented pace. And I, in such an age, create what I call Ancient Art. My works are the byproduct of the ritual that consists of containing the wind. My works have been inspired by the meditation practices of Tibetan monks, the sand mandala. By definition the word mandala can be explained as “attaining the essence,” and involves colored sand to portray the Buddhist world view, the making of the mandala itself is a meditative practice. As I repetitiously sprinkle sand, many random thoughts sprout from my mind. But by continuing further, those thoughts themselves disappear, and I can focus on the act of sprinkling itself. I enter into a point of meditation where serenity exists.

My work is based on the idea of visualized connection between “sound” (intangible) and “rustedness” (visual aspect of the phenomenon) and began as an effort to codify my narrative hence reinforcing its structure. It was also because focusing solely on the characteristics of a phenomenon without narrative felt too ambiguous. This thought led to the genesis of story which defined my perception of the world. People in the East are aware of the concept, “Yin-Yang and Five Elements” where each day of a week matches the concept of the Five Elements. In the Chinese character, each day is described in imagery such as, Monday: Moon, Tuesday: Fire, Wednesday: Water, Thursday: Wood, Friday: Metal, Saturday: Earth. I first worked to visualize these words as definitions thereby building images of the “Five Element” state of mind. The most challenging element among them was metal. There was no particular imagery emerging when reflecting on “metal” except its rusting characteristic. The quintessence of metal bears a close link to sound-the repetitive hammering of the red chunk of metal that was just out of the furnace. “Sound,” just like metal destined to rusting, begins its life by fading, similar to metal that is freshly refined and shaped begins its oxidation. So my work was layered with ripple-shaped waves on a glass pane resembling soundwaves, followed by producing a rusted part of the ripple exposing its layers caused by erosion. I often use the expression, “the sound of heart’ as a metaphor for “sound and its rustedness.” This has a close association with one of my themes based on “The Little Prince’. Some nights I would enjoy imagining the tiny star on which I am standing becomes an amplifier, pinging my heartbeat to that of the rose and the crashing of two different sound waves on each other that have the same fate of rusting away.

People in the East or the “Orient” perceived the world in the context of the concept of the Yin-Yang and the Five Elements . In Chinese characters, each day is described in visual imagery, for example, Monday: Moon, Tuesday: Fire, Wednesday: Water, Thursday: Wood, Friday: Meta and l Saturday: Earth. First, I worked to visualize these words as definitions, just seeing how each day of the week (Sunday through Saturday in Korean) matches the concept of the Five Elements and thus building blocks of what I term as the “Five Element” state of mind.

Kang Kyoung Youn

Unseen- Blue Woman
We now live in the age of image and positioning, as society becomes more consumption-centric. Art is changing at an unprecedented pace. And I, in such an age, create what I call Ancient Art. My works are the byproduct of the ritual that consists of containing the wind. My works have been inspired by the meditation practices of Tibetan monks, the sand mandala. By definition the word mandala can be explained as “attaining the essence,” and involves colored sand to portray the Buddhist world view, the making of the mandala itself is a meditative practice. As I repetitiously sprinkle sand, many random thoughts sprout from my mind. But by continuing further, those thoughts themselves disappear, and I can focus on the act of sprinkling itself. I enter into a point of meditation where serenity exists.

Not Anyone’s Hand- Voyage The Sky
The color ‘blue’, has an important symbolism in my work. I use various colors to make ceramic objects, but blue is my favourite color. It can be said that blue is a color that is growing in my works by showing a stronger bond with the concepts of my works as time goes by. In the past, I used blue to express ambivalence of depression and hope that was intended to be contained in the figure, so that light, soft and warm feelings were mainly felt. However, recently, in order to symbolically represent deep expression in my ceramic objects, I use a dense, dark blue that is obtained by fusing materials such as metal oxide, pigment, engobe, and glaze in the firing. This adds a sense of visual weight to the expression of the figure, thus strengthening the depth and stillness of its meaning.

Among various symbolic meanings of blue, words that have penetrated deeply into my works in recent years are ‘meditation’, ‘silence’, ‘inner side’, ‘dream’, and ‘spirit’. This work contains content that implies 'empty(circle)', 'infinity', and 'mental space' by combining the blue color covering the entire figure, the sky defining places and actions, and the invisible world of travel.

Daydream “beyond the horizon” - The Women Who See Bird
All of my works are permeated by messages of healing and growth. A person's dream changes the person’s life. However, when a dream is shared by many people, it has the power to change the world. The concept of this work is ‘people who are in solidarity for the future and move toward a new hope’. While visually composing this work, the most important part was facial expressions of characters that change according to the gaze of viewers. The eyes of the eight people are fixed in one direction toward the flying bird, and the closer their gaze gets to the 'bird', the brighter their expressions become. The bodies of the characters were produced with a single piece so that they are visually connected and show a state of being united with each other.

In preparing for this exhibition, I was able to get an opportunity to look back on the current situation and difficulties of mankind by expanding my perspective from the concept of my previous works that I had been immersed in so far. Many people have died, and now it is a time when survivors have to adapt to the harsh reality of not being able to maintain their normal daily lives. I hope that the messages of healing and growth I want to convey through my works become a message of courage and hope for those who are overcoming difficult times.

Lee Jae Joon

I give life to the materials of clay, fire, and smoke with creating works that speak of the recovery of the right relationship between mankind and other living things, and companionship. I create formative works based on craft-oriented mechanisms, around the themes of the value of life of various living things on Earth and their importance. In addition, in another type of work, I expand the artist's art philosophy into a public space through new and avant-garde artistic attempts in Korean urban architecture through the making of large-scale ceramic facade projects that embody abstract images of nature. I create a circular structure of nature on the outside of buildings through organic connections of units that are fashioned from clay and fired in a kiln.

The unprecedented pandemic renders all experiences that we previously took for granted useless and has destroyed ordinary daily life, and gradually breaks down 'relationship-based social structures' between human beings and between humans and society.

My two works were created in the hope of a ‘recovery of relationships’ in this current situation. The work with a boy and a calf tells a story of recovering relationships between humans and other living things through warmth of a material called clay and their gestures. The image of a shepherd and a calf that I saw along National Highway 49 between Chennai and Pondicherry in southern India in 2014 was engraved with the beautiful scenery of the Bay of Bengal, and this is a work I made while remembering that time. The work made using metal pipes was recently created when participating in a residency program hosted by a Sanitary Ware manufacturing company in Korea. The combination of lines of pipes and geometric structures represent 'relationships' between humans, society and nature. It is difficult for us to exist apart from these relationships. There was a time when subjects of change and development were regarded as individual entities, but since the mid-20th century, there has been a shift in thinking, from substance to relationships which are now becoming more and more important. I aim for works with a horizontal and cyclical relationship of rhizomic thinking rather than vertical works from dichotomous frames of thought such as subject versus non-subject, form versus structure, and inside versus outside.

Lee Tae Hoon

My work begins with the extraction of small glass threads such as weaving baskets. The thin glass threads are gathered again and completed in the form of a basket that symbolically contains my feelings. I think putting emotions into something tangible brings thoughts into reality and embodies the shape. My basket is symbolic of my thoughts and also means something else. The basket form of the Wave series means a small wave. However it will gradually become a big wave and play a basic role in building my working world in the future.

Madhur Sen

If you are lucky, resilience is not something you will have to demonstrate too often in your life. It presupposes adversity, a threatening environment or situations of extreme stress and trauma. The COVID-19 pandemic has changed all that for a lot of people across the world—the scale of human loss and living with risk seems more ubiquitous than ever before. Many have had to learn how to be resilient overnight and deal with the trauma of isolation, losing loved ones and uncertain futures.

But in India, it has always been the case that a majority of its poor population lives in an extremely precarious state, fighting for survival with little or no state support. These include migrant workers who build our cities but cannot themselves afford a decent livelihood. The ways in which they are able to sustain a life for themselves and their families in the face of exploitation is all thanks to their resilience. In my work, I have tried to capture what I see as moments of both hope and despair, strength and exhaustion.

My inspiration is the spirit of the working people of India I see daily-who get no thanks, no appreciation, no decent living wages-and without whom nothing would work. While resilience, personal or collective, is indeed something to be celebrated, it should not be demanded of anyone with such regularity.

Oh Jung Sun

For many years, I have been questioning and deliberately thinking of the differences in people’s vision that result in a gap of thoughts. This has been both a source of irritation and curiosity about others' different thoughts and perspectives. My works are the result of my curiosity or queries. A landscape from a vacant look, a phrase that was read coincidentally or a conversation which just glanced off my ear, infiltrates me with totally different meanings. Those extravagant tipping points make me ponder again of different thoughts and meanings that shakes my programmed way of thinking. We tend to discard thoughts that may be with more value than what we credit them. This is the subject of my works. I would like to give my viewers an experience which could result in a change of perception regarding familiar matters.

For many years, I have been questioning and deliberately thinking of people’s vision. Difference in views resulted as a gap of thoughts and I am curious about different thoughts of others and perspectives. Until I find the need, the existing other is not recognized. Not until that other collides with my being, I do not acknowledge them. The being which shakes “My”programmed way of thinking is the subject of my works. I would like to give the “I” who confronts my work, an experience which could result into them entering different perspectives regarding familiar matters. We tend to discard the rest when concentrating on what we consider valuable without realising that discarded thoughts might have more value for us.

Rhee In Sook

I want to express and communicate the transformation of the images of sensation that I have seen, felt, and touched from the outside into artifacts in accordance with the characteristics of my inner reality and space. People seek out nature for their desire to rest and heal in this fierce life. But soon, people will come into their room instead of being outside, and in reality, nature mixes with many artifacts and leaves a blurred memory. In the process of recreating these image, I intentionally work on distorted images rather than the realistic representations of natural objects. I want to maximize memorized images rather than merely the reproduction of natural objects.

The shapes of artefacts on the memorized images are the units for expressing the beauty of coexistence. I think about how I can empathize with people emotionally and beautifully indoors. The coexistence of artifacts and natural objects may simply result in a combination of dual concepts, but I think of the beautiful combinations that are possible. It is the only part where humans can intervene in nature and I think it is something that humans must observe closely.

Sisir Sahana

My art reflects my presence in the society where I live, where people strive for peace and happiness, strength and harmony over time. To express that observation and conversation, I use various mediums and visual/performance based media as tools. Often, I admire aspects of nature that is a rich constituent of human beings, animals, birds, insects, trees, plants. They work as metaphors for me. Above all, human beings play a comprehensive and constructive role to deliver the dialogue between the material and concept.

My medium being glass, I conceptualize my method and material in order to make a relation with its transparent and translucent nature. I emphasize less on the technical aspect of material perfection/skills and more on the subjective essence within the artworks.

Srila Mookherjee

My work is inspired by my passion for both functional art as well as for the vessel form. It is a creative combination of form with function, craft with art which I feel ultimately becomes a part of our everyday lives bringing with it beauty.

The vessel form is one that I have been obsessed with be it in terracotta, glass or porcelain. For me it embodies beauty. It exists to hold or contain, both literally and metaphorically and is a vehicle to bring to expression my ideas and feelings as an artist.

I have spent the better part of my working life blowing glass. The spontaneity and impulsiveness of the making process suited my nature and I enjoyed the feeling of immediacy it imparted.

Swagata Naidu

Human resilience is an incredible ability that keeps life floating even in unimaginable conditions. While we celebrate hope and the human survival instinct in the face of a catastrophe, we need to honestly assess where we went wrong and how the blessings of nature can be respected, protected and restored against the irreversible damage human greed has inflicted. Through the transparency, dynamism, fluidity and exquisite brilliance glass attains from the action of heat much like our spirit of shining through adversity, I in collaboration with the remarkable glass flame-work artisans of Firozabad, Uttar Pradesh, who have shaped my ideas through their unparalleled skills, want to celebrate the human spirit and pay my respect to the struggles of the ones who survived and homage to the one who moved to hopefully a healthier and a kinder world.

Glass is an expressive yet fluid, sensitive material which speaks volumes when interacting with light. In this series that is set at the intersection of ideas from a designer and hand crafted by artisans of India, I have taken inspiration from the “elements from nature” that are famed for their ability to adapt, transform, withstand and propagate in the wake of any condition and have expressed it through forms in glass.

Thomas Louis

Resilience is a strength which however, comes from a certain vulnerability. To build this strength through this vulnerability/ a seeming weakness, one has to open up completely to one’s surroundings in full awareness. You translate this vulnerability into strength by protecting and nurturing what is immediately around you. Animals, humans, birds, plants, insects and everything we are alive with. This nurturing is what builds resilience. It embraces adaptability and inclusiveness.

In nature, each species has a Guardian Spirit. They all work in harmony with nature for the evolution of their species. But in current times, all its chaos and deficiencies in the social, political, economic, health, education and almost every other sphere is a symptom of the rot upon which the entire system is built on. It is a decay of a system that has failed to protect and nurture. It needs to be the manure for new systems that account for everybody, to grow. Resilience is still seen in pockets - spaces that have a sense of community and where individuals are looking out for each other.

Here are a series of sculptures that attempt to tug at the heartstrings of Nurture - of taking care of the precious little we have left. The Guardian Spirits are taking the trees away from the evil human spirit of greed, to protect and save what’s left.

Trupti Patel

Within all earths lie therein its own unique identity, it carries in its soil composition all of its history of location, ecology, geography, social and political associations to signify its particular cultural persona. Site specific material becomes a most potent medium when used for its symbolism and reference to location. The material, abstract in its nature, is implicated as message and contextual representation. I use various geographical site specific matter like ash, water, rocks, plant components, farm crops as well as non-living litter. I am anchored in the metaphor between clay and human simulacrum. In India, the division of the country into 28 political states, each with their own different language, food, customs and identity are a reality of a challenging diversity. In my recent works, I have been using agricultural earths (in terracruda) from all of the 28 states and juxtaposed them with sculpted human rendition in fired clay. I do so to locate a background, to enable a dialogue, to address a connect/disconnect of the contemporary issues perceived within the current residentiary environment of India.

Vineeta Oswal & Manoj Pilli

Resilience is that innate quality of our spirit which comes to the surface when our backs are hopelessly against the wall; when the times are darkest, when we are clueless about the outcome, yet we continue to absorb and push ourselves triggered by an emotion, of us leading a change.

The series of artworks touch upon different aspects of our experiences in the covid crisis. It is a reflection on the metamorphosis of self, a journey inwards and outwards.

ATLAS - Enduring the weight

The lockdowns threw us in situations that forced us to look into ourselves. Atlas, drowned by the weight of existence, in the absence of any means of escape, in face of its fears and loneliness, continues to carry the burden and fight.

PHOENIX - Rising from ashes

During the second wave of covid in India, we observed the failures of our systems, from the dearth of oxygen cylinders in hospitals to the dearth of space for funeral pyres; everything collapsed. Helpless, suffocated, we rose from ashes of our own losses.

HARMONY - Beauty in chaos

In the face of adversity and the collapse of systems, individuals showed strength.There existed this underlying beauty in chaos, of individuals coming out for the other. They took the lead, formed communities and helped each other, for the very purpose of life. Resilience is also our ability to unite when the time comes calling.

Artists' Process Film:

Choi Hye Sook

Dipalee Daroz

Hu Jung Eun

Jung Kwang Min

Kang Kyoung Youn

Lee Jae Joon

Lee Tae Hoon

Madhur Sen

Oh Jung Sun

Rhee In Sook

Sisir Sahana

Srila Mookerjee

Swagata Naidu

Thomas Louis

Trupti Patel

Vineeta Oswal & Manoj Pilli

Exhibition Videos:

Choi Hye Sook

Dipalee Daroz

Hu Jung Eun

Jung Kwang Min

Kang Kyoung Youn

Lee Jae Joon

Lee Tae Hoon

Madhur Sen

Oh Jung Sun

Rhee In Sook

Sisir Sahana

Srila Mookherjee

Swagata Naidu

Thomas Louis

Trupti Patel

Vineeta Oswal & Manoj Pilli