Home » In pictures: Ishara Art Foundation is pleased to present Sheher, Prakriti, Devi, an exhibition that marks artist and photographer Gauri Gill’s first extensive curation
In pictures: Ishara Art Foundation is pleased to present Sheher, Prakriti, Devi, an exhibition that marks artist and photographer Gauri Gill’s first extensive curation
The show presents twelve artists and collectives working across diverse contexts of urban, rural, domestic, communitarian, public and non-material spaces
Chamba Rumal, Tara. From the series ‘Das Mahavidya’ (Ten Great Wisdoms), Hand embroidery on silk cloth, 29.2 x 29.2 cm
Sheher, Prakriti, Devi comes from the Hindustani terms for ‘city’, ‘nature’ and ‘deity’. The exhibition germinates from Gill’s ongoing documentation of urban and semi-urban spaces in India since 2003 in a series titled ‘Rememory’ (after Toni Morrison).
Gill offers a unique lens to regard cities as spaces of habitation that are shaped by multiple life-worlds. Together with various practitioners with whom she shares an affinity, the exhibition presents a world where built and natural structures are rendered porous by termites; gates open to unfinished roads; historical ruins become homes to migratory birds while pigeons become occupants of post-colonial houses; locusts bear witness to contemporary terrors and forests manifest as spirit sisters.
In this show, viewers are invited to regard ecology as an overlap of cultural, natural and spiritual domains.
Sheher, Prakriti, and Devi will be on view from 19 January – 1 June 2024 at the Ishara Art Foundation, Alserkal Avenue in Dubai.
Shefalee Jain, My locust with round cheeks, Why don’t you fly away now (2023). BlackChiara Camoni, Burning Sister (2023). Video, 23 minutes 28 seconds (loop). Image courtesy of the artistEmily Avery Yoshiko Crow, Bhrkuti Tara (2020). Watercolour on paper, 22.86 cm x 30.48 cm. Image courtesy of the artist Meera Mukherjee, Wave. Bronze, 33 x 20.32 x 22.8 cm. Image courtesy of Dadiba Pundole. From the Pundole Family CollectionGauri Gill, Kolkata 2009 (a), from the series ‘Rememory’ (2003 – ongoing). Archival pigment print, 154.5 x 104 cmSukanya Ghosh, Lokkho Lokkho (2023). Digital collage with mixed media on paper, 55.8 x 76.2 cm. Image courtesy of the artistRashmi Kaleka, Deemak 16 (2023). Watercolour and graphite on hot pressed archival 300gsm paper, 31 cm x 41 cm Ladhki Devi, Dasha Devi (2020-21). Poster paint on mud-coated cloth, 45.2 x 33.5 cm. Image courtesy of the artist and Ishara Vinnie Gill, Lotus Pond in Ranthambore (2020). Pastels and watercolour on rough paper, 33 x 39.8 cm (framed)Mrinalini Mukherjee, Devi – Installation Instruction (c. 1982). Archival document, 30 x 21.5 cm. Image courtesy of Asia Art ArchiveMariam Suhail, Site Survey and Preparation (2023)
