Seema Kohli
Seema Kohli
In this second edition of her project, Seema Kohli continues to exhume her family archives, material inheritance and oral accounts to recreate the memory of her ancestral home in Pind Dadan Khan. The town, presently a part of Jhelum District in Pakistan, lies tantalisingly beyond her reach. Articulating a tenuous link to a home that one may never return to, this project that is deeply personal, nonetheless, reveals the ephemerality of all belonging.
The title ‘Khula Aasman’ evokes the illusory yet transcendental horizon that witnesses our labours and guides our dreams. It recalls an exchange that the artist, a young girl at the time, had with her father in their New Rajinder Nagar home where the family eventually came to settle after the Partition. ‘What do you see ahead?’ the father would quiz his daughter to which she’d naively respond ‘Babbi ka ghar’ pointing to her friend’s home. ‘And what do you see after that?’ the line of enquiry continued, nudging her imagination forward to the sinuous infinity where the sky and the land dissolved into each other. ‘Khula Aasman’ thus upholds the meagre yet momentous hope treasured by a dispossessed heart.
Spread across the two venues of Dara Shikoh Library at Ambedkar University and Seema Kohli Studio in Okhla, the project comprises a range of mixed-media works. A multichannel video installation अक्स-ए-गुज़िशता (Mirroring the Past) suspends a bridge of longing between homes new and old, stitching the two geographies together, albeit imperfectly. In reenacting the tortuous journey from Pind Dadan Khan to New Delhi, the artist extends herself back in time like air rushing to fill a vacuum, or life pushing its tendrils through dilapidation. The camera hungrily caresses the facade of Bada Ghar (the family home in Pind Dadan Khan) savouring every detail before sweeping through the mohalla, strangely familiar. Doors and windows of her current studio suddenly open onto distant galis, welcoming the hanging wooden balcony and the latticed arches like a long lost sibling. The reconstruction of memory continues in a series of silver gelatin prints that have been developed from a selection of family photographs. In drawing over and tinting these photographic prints with Fuji Colours acquired by her father in 1957 the artist seeks to reacquaint herself with these derelict spaces, painstakingly populating them with inhabitants, memories and events. These fragmented memories traced over the photographic surface are enfleshed further with the aid of audio excerpts from her father Shri KD Kholi’s autobiography Mitr Pyare Noo, a key resource for this project.
One of the two large paintings included in the exhibition, Yamuna, is an ode to the relationship between her father and the eponymous cow, who had to be left behind when the family migrated to India, a loss that haunted her father even unto his latter years. The other, Gulab ke Khet opens a vista on to the sprawling rose fields of Choa Saidanshah that were crossed on camelbacks on pilgrimage to the nearby shrines of Katasraj. The gulkand confected from these roses was a common yet satiating accompaniment to the basi roti that the pilgrims consumed during such journeys. Its health benefits were extolled by the artist’s grandfather Hakim Chunn Lal Kohli, an eighteenth generation practitioner of Unani medicine. The fragrant memories of this family occupation have come down to the artist in a script she can no longer decipher and re-lived through a series of drawings. These drawings paint a picture of a home that doubled up as a 24/7 clinic where the boundaries between the private and the professional blurred as children and other family members were drawn into sourcing, preparing, and packaging of remedies, triage and care of the patients. The Himalayan foothills nearby provided a steady supply of various herbs prescribed by hikmat.
A four by ten feet phulkari created in collaboration with the women’s collective Meher Baba Charitable Trust in Bassi Pathan (Punjab) renders the artist’s ancestral landscapes of the Salt Range arrayed along the banks of Jhelum in its quintessential bagh pattern. Growing up, the artist heard stories from her bua about the unique space held by this collective women’s enterprise within the cultural and everyday life of Punjab. Through multisensory bricolages of material like these ‘Khula Asman’ seeks to stir the diaspora of memories that resides in all of us.
Sculptures, Terracotta
Sculptures, Terracotta
Sculptures, Terracotta
Sculptures, Terracotta
Sculptures, Terracotta
Sculptures, Terracotta
Sculptures, Terracotta
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Sculptures, Terracotta
Paperworks, Archival Photographic Works / Drawings
Paperworks, Archival Photographic Works / Drawings
Paperworks, Archival Photographic Works / Drawings
Paperworks, Archival Photographic Works / Drawings
Paperworks, Archival Photographic Works / Drawings
Paperworks, Archival Photographic Works / Drawings
Paperworks, Archival Photographic Works / Drawings
Paperworks, Archival Photographic Works / Drawings
Paperworks, Archival Photographic Works / Drawings
Paperworks, Archival Photographic Works / Drawings
Paperworks, Archival Photographic Works / Drawings
Paperworks, Archival Photographic Works / Drawings
Paperworks, Archival Photographic Works / Drawings
Paperworks, Archival Photographic Works / Drawings
Paperworks, Archival Photographic Works / Drawings
Paperworks, Archival Photographic Works / Drawings
Paperworks, Archival Photographic Works / Drawings
Paperworks, Archival Photographic Works / Drawings
Canvas, Acrylic on Canvas
Canvas, Acrylic on Canvas
Canvas, Acrylic on Canvas
Canvas, Acrylic on Canvas
Canvas, Acrylic on Canvas
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Canvas, Acrylic on Canvas
Paperworks, Lithographs
Paperworks, Lithographs
Paperworks, Lithographs
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Canvas, Acrylic on Canvas
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Threadworks, Cloth
Concept & Direction: Seema KohliCinematography Edit & Sound: Sakthi Doss A 12 minute capturing Seema Kohli’s involvement and the whole process of the making of the artworks at...
Grid of 84 archival prints of self-portraits, of 10x10inch. The cycle of life revolves around birth, death and the eventual liberation from mortality. All forms of life follow...
Single Channel Installation Performance & Concept: Seema KohliCinematography: Marlène Ila Popovic, Sakthi BhagatEditing: Marlene Ila PopovicSound Design: Sahil Vasudeva “We see death as a full stop. But it...
Concept, Script & Direction: Seema Kohli Photography & Videography: Sakthi Bhagat Editor: Tariq Vasudeva Music: Sahil Vasudeva Animation: Gaurav Singh Bedi “Seema Kohli’s Enter Stillness is a fable...
Art Heritage Gallery, NSIC Grounds, New Delhi
Art Heritage Gallery, NSIC Grounds, New Delhi
Bihar Museum
Presented by Sanchit Art Gallery At The Arts House, Singapore
Asian Art Museum, San Francisco presented by the Lara Lakshimi Foundation
Tao Art Gallery
Pacific Art League, Palo Alto, California
National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA) New Delhi
Travancore Palace • Bikaner House • India Habitat Centre, New Delhi
Presented by Museum of Sacred Art At MOSA Radhadesh Gallery, Belgium
Kolkata Centre for Creativity, Kolkata
Venue: Sunder Nursery, New Delhi, Presented by Gallery Ragini
Hong Kong Visual Arts Center, Hong Kong, presented by Sanchit Art Gallery
Archer Art Gallery Ahmedabad, India
S.A. Fine Arts, Cromwell Place, London
Bikaner House, New Delhi presented by Gallerie Nvya
Gallerie Nvya, Triveni Kala Sangam, New Delhi
Bihar Museum, Patna
Shridharani Gallery at Triveni Kala Sangam, presented by Gallerie Nvya, Delhi
Lalit Kala Akademi, Chennai
National Gallery of Modern Art, Bengaluru
Seema Kohli Studio, New Delhi and The Partition Museum, Delhi
Sculptures, Bronze
Canvas, Acrylic on Canvas
Canvas, Acrylic on Canvas
Paperworks, Paintings
Paperworks, Etching
Sculptures, Bronze
Sculptures, Bronze
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Sculptures, Bronze
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Canvas, Acrylic on Canvas
Canvas, Acrylic on Canvas
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Sculptures, Bronze
Paperworks, Etching
Paperworks, Paintings
Paperworks, Paintings
Paperworks, Etching
Paperworks, Etching
Paperworks, Etching
Paperworks, Etching
Paperworks, Archival Photographic Works / Drawings
Paperworks, Archival Photographic Works / Drawings
Paperworks, Archival Photographic Works / Drawings
Paperworks, Archival Photographic Works / Drawings
Paperworks, Archival Photographic Works / Drawings
Paperworks, Archival Photographic Works / Drawings
Paperworks, Archival Photographic Works / Drawings
Canvas, Acrylic on Canvas
Canvas, Acrylic on Canvas
Canvas, Acrylic on Canvas
Canvas, Acrylic on Canvas
Sculptures, Glass-Reinforced Polymer
Canvas, Acrylic on Canvas
Threadworks, Cloth
Threadworks, Cloth
Canvas, Acrylic on Canvas
Canvas, Acrylic on Canvas
Canvas, Acrylic on Canvas
Paperworks, Paintings
Paperworks, Etching
Paperworks, Etching
Paperworks, Etching
Paperworks, Etching
Paperworks, Archival Photographic Works / Drawings
Paperworks, Archival Photographic Works / Drawings
Paperworks, Archival Photographic Works / Drawings
Paperworks, Archival Photographic Works / Drawings
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Paperworks, Archival Photographic Works / Drawings
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Paperworks, Etching
Paperworks, Etching
Canvas, Acrylic on Canvas
Canvas, Acrylic on Canvas
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Threadworks, Embroidery
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Threadworks, Embroidery
Threadworks, Embroidery
Sculptures, Bronze
Sculptures, Bronze
Sculptures, Bronze
Sculptures, Glass-Reinforced Polymer
Sculptures, Glass-Reinforced Polymer
Sculptures, Glass-Reinforced Polymer
Sculptures, Glass-Reinforced Polymer
Canvas, Acrylic on Canvas
Canvas, Acrylic on Canvas
Canvas, Acrylic on Canvas
Canvas, Acrylic on Canvas
Canvas, Acrylic on Canvas
Canvas, Acrylic on Canvas
Canvas, Acrylic on Canvas
Canvas, Acrylic on Canvas
Canvas, Acrylic on Canvas
Canvas, Acrylic on Canvas
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Paperworks, Paintings
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Canvas, Oil On Canvas
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Canvas, Oil On Canvas
Canvas, Acrylic on Canvas
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Woodworks, Acrylic On Wood
Woodworks, Acrylic On Wood
Canvas, Acrylic on Canvas
Sculptures, Bronze
Canvas, Acrylic on Canvas
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Paperworks, Etching
Canvas, Archival Print
Canvas, Acrylic on Canvas
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Sculptures, Paintings
Threadworks, Cloth
Paperworks, Paintings
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Canvas, Acrylic on Canvas
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Paperworks, Lithographs
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Canvas, Acrylic on Canvas
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Threadworks, Embroidery
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Paperworks, Zinc Plate Intaglio Print
Paperworks, Zinc Plate Intaglio Print
Paperworks, Zinc Plate Intaglio Print
Paperworks, Zinc Plate Intaglio Print
Paperworks, Zinc Plate Intaglio Print
Paperworks, Zinc Plate Intaglio Print
Paperworks, Zinc Plate Intaglio Print
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Paperworks, Etching
Canvas, Acrylic on Canvas
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Threadworks, Embroidery
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Sculptures, Wooden
Sculptures, Sandstone
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Sculptures, Bronze
Sculptures, Bronze
Sculptures, Bronze
Canvas, Acrylic on Canvas
Canvas, Acrylic on Canvas
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Paperworks, Archival Photographic Works / Drawings
Paperworks, Woodcut
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Paperworks, Woodcut
Paperworks, Woodcut
Paperworks, Woodcut
Paperworks, Woodcut
Threadworks, Embroidery
Paperworks, Etching
Canvas, Acrylic on Canvas
Canvas, Acrylic on Canvas
Canvas, Acrylic on Canvas
Canvas, Acrylic on Canvas
Canvas, Acrylic on Canvas
Threadworks, Embroidery
Threadworks, Embroidery
Threadworks, Embroidery
Threadworks, Embroidery
Sculptures, Bronze
Sculptures, Bronze
Sculptures, Bronze
Sculptures, Bronze
Sculptures, Bronze
Sculptures, Bronze
Sculptures, Bronze
Sculptures, Bronze
Sculptures, Bronze
Paperworks, Archival Photographic Works / Drawings
Paperworks, Archival Photographic Works / Drawings
Paperworks, Archival Photographic Works / Drawings
Paperworks, Archival Photographic Works / Drawings
Paperworks, Archival Photographic Works / Drawings
Paperworks, Archival Photographic Works / Drawings
Paperworks, Archival Photographic Works / Drawings
Paperworks, Archival Photographic Works / Drawings
Khula Aasman
Khula Aasman
Khula Aasman
Khula Aasman
The Golden Womb Series
Khula Aasman
Khula Aasman
Khula Aasman
Tree of life
Khula Aasman
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