Khoj International Artist Association  I  Goa, India
2017
Fishnet Wire and Permanent Marker on Window Frame

As a part of the Khoj International Artist Association’s fellowship that was hosted in Goa in 2017, I received an opportunity to work at the ‘Old Pereira House’, a Portuguese bungalow that was generously made available by artist Orijit Sen and his partner Gurpreet Sidhu. In an unoccupied section of the house, I encountered an open window on its first floor overlooking the lush green outside, something which became the initial point of entry for this work subsequently. I was inherently drawn to the quietness of the space, the natural surroundings, and the luminous rays of day light making its way into the space through the same window panel, already functioning like a frame in itself. Offering a limited view of the lush green landscape outside, the view already appeared to me as if a complete painting, a naturally composed image that didn’t seem to need any intervention. So, I instead started thinking of the window as a ‘reverse canvas’, where rather than bringing an image onto the surface, the landscape itself became the image, framed by the architectural space. Responding to this existing composition, I intervened through a distinct form of painting using the idea of additive layering. Using a closely knit fishnet wire and a permanent marker, I began to work directly on the window frame, forming a new layer across the opening. The horizontal lines drawn from one end to another simultaneously fragmented and became a part of the very landscape in its background, thereby activating it. The work emerged from the encounter with the site itself, operating at an intersection of the existing space, architectural forms, and the surrounding nature as an active part of the composition.