Bodies of Sky, Bodies of Earth
Seema Kohli
18 January – 25 January 2026
Shridharani Gallery, Triveni Kala Sangam, New Delhi
Presented by Gallerie Nvya
Curated by Satyajit Dave
Bodies of Sky, Bodies of Earth was a solo exhibition by Seema Kohli that emerged from the conceptual and material rigor of her practice. The exhibition’s spatial and scenographic structure developed through close engagement with Kohli’s sustained inquiry into matter as simultaneously physical, metaphysical, and philosophical.
Kohli’s work was grounded in an understanding of matter as active and generative. Clay, wood, paper, metal, pigment, and light were treated not as inert substances but as sites of transformation that registered time, touch, and resistance.
The exhibition unfolded as a conceptual passage that reflected Kohli’s long-standing engagement with the body as a locus of experience. Its arc moved from the idea of origin or womb, through the conditions of earth and embodied life, toward sky, release, and shedding, with moksha functioning as an orienting horizon.
At the entrance, a large-scale gilded work established the condition of origin. Gold and silver leaf were treated materially, functioning as fragile skins responsive to pressure, heat, and handling.
Terracotta works formed the exhibition’s grounding core. Shaped through compression and fire, they retained the imprint of the hand and resisted refinement.
Works on paper introduced a contrasting register of permeability and breath. Pigment entered the fibers through absorption and staining, producing surfaces sensitive to timing and restraint.
At the center of the exhibition, a monumental woodcut functioned as a hinge between earth and sky. The force required to carve the block remained visible in the printed surface, translating resistance into trace.
Throughout Bodies of Sky, Bodies of Earth, matter operated across registers. It was physical in its weight and resistance, metaphysical in its capacity to hold memory and transformation, and philosophical in its insistence on relational becoming.
— Text by Satyajit Dave