During the early months of the covid-19 pandemic, I was stranded in Auroville, Pondicherry while visiting my friend. What was meant to be a 3-week break turned into a 3-month long stay. However, I was fortunate to have stayed in a beautiful property called “The Living House” which truly lived up to its name. Surrounded by nature and in close proximity to the ocean, the surrounding environment played a crucial role in my creative process.
This artwork began as a response to my limited interaction with the outside world. Life had become slow and mundane. Many emotions and worries began to creep in and it got harder to channelize them. As a hands-on creator, I was also struggling to express myself due to lack of resources. One day, I stumbled upon this old, unused ladder and the idea struck me immediately.
Instead of looking and waiting for resources, I decided to work with what I had. While creating this artwork, it made me wonder why I had not thought about this idea earlier despite having worked with found material for a long time.
A major part of the ladder is created with materials such as twigs, leaves, waste milk packets, fabrics and threads. Slowly when the world opened up, I was able to gather more material and completed the work in 3 weeks. The visuals are all drawn from memory; encompassing many moods, peaceful as well as unsettling times, with the visual narrative flowing from ground to sky.
These beautiful photos were clicked by Ankit Banerjee with whom I had the greatest fortune of spending three months with and who supported me generously through this time.
Size: 20” x 75”
