Art for the times

BENGALURU: The year 2020 felt like resurrection for many, where every aspect of life fell apart and had to be pieced back together again. “But the truth is our world has ended many times and begun again. This inspired my new works,” says city-based artist Shilo Shiv Suleman. Her new show is called ‘Reincarnate: We meet here in the Afterlife’ and is currently on display at the Mumbai Gallery Weekend ‘21. Made over a span of two months, the works feature paintings, sculptures and poetic love letters.

“I wanted to start 2021 with hope, beauty, possibility and a reminder about the cyclic nature our lives. Through this show, I explore concepts of the afterlife, apocalypse and utopia, floods, and different endings and beginnings,” says Suleman. The 10 paintings and 25 sculptures explore different mediums like acrylic and oil on canvas, brass shaping and gold leafing on archival paper. The works are elemental: Soil, wind, fire and water. “I explore the elements that make us.

Soil is an invocation of how we return to earth after life and the comfort of roots growing through our rib cages. Wind explores the feeling of ancient recognition when we fall in love, this feeling that lovers go from one lifetime to another together trying to find their way back into an embrace,” she says, adding how this section also showcases love letters hand painted in gold. “It’s like lovers who create a magical shine of love because love is sacred and precious to me,” she adds.

The fire section showcases an installation – Picking up the pieces of myself – which has been inspired by the story of Sati’s body being scattered across different parts of India. Here, 21 sculptures have been cast on Suleman’s body and displayed across the room. “It stands as a metaphor for how many times we have broken down and brought ourselves together again,” she says, adding that the last room, dedicated to water, has sculptures inspired by Matsya and flood stories. 

The creation process also taught Suleman how she doesn’t like to be locked up. “I thrive on community, conversation and chaos. Everything may have fallen apart last year but today, we find the courage to start again and again.”  While the exhibition is currently on display in Mumbai, Suleman is working on converting it into a virtual showcase, while also sharing snippets on her Instagram handle 

@shiloshivsuleman.