Exhibitions explore Seema Kohli's artistic practice across material and themes

New Delhi, Jan 20 (PTI) Contemporary artist Seema Kohli's practice, from her early exploration of the self in the mythical to her more recent works that explore the body as an archive of stories, traverses across material histories, mythic imagination, and deeply personal narratives of feminine resilience and self-discovery.

Two new exhibitions by Gallery Nvya at Triveni Kala Sangam -- "Bodies of Sky, Bodies of Earth" and "With Her Hair Running Wild" -- offer a layered and expansive view of Kohli's artistic practice, spanning sculpture, painting, printmaking, embroidery, and mixed media.

"Bodies of Sky, Bodies of Earth" brings together Kohli's works across terracotta, woodcut, embroidery, sculpture, and painting to explore the idea of the body as an archive of earth, species, and stories.

The exhibition features works that reflect her sustained inquiry into matter as simultaneously physical, metaphysical, and philosophical.

"The exhibition unfolds as a conceptual passage that reflects Kohli’s long-standing engagement with the body as a locus of experience. Its arc moves 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. This progression is articulated materially rather than symbolically, echoing philosophical traditions in which transcendence is understood not as a departure from matter, but as transformation through it," curator Satyajit Dave said in the curatorial note.

Appearing as fragments, markers, or vessels, the terracotta pieces evoke archaeological and vernacular forms without settling into historical quotation.

"I am an artist. And for me, all these things are coming from a very personal space. And it's like pulling out different kind of memory through different layers of consciousness.

"So, whenever I am talking about my work, I am talking about unseen bodies that are there which are around us, which we don't see, but we never considered them alive. But there are beings always around us which are without body. The clouds, the sky, everything is conscious, everything is alive," Kohli told PTI.

The second exhibition, "With Her Hair Running Wild", curated by Adwait, presents works spanning key phases of Kohli’s artistic journey, from fleeting sketches made during the nights to early explorations of colour, and eventually to the bold palettes and intricate patterns that define her mature practice today.

As she moves form her monochrome exploration of domestic narratives in the 80s with mythological icons to her vibrant mix of tribal, natural, and mystical now, the exhibition offers an almost intimate look at Kohli's own artistic and individual journey.

"Between these moments lie narratives of domestic rupture, feminine solidarity, and the gradual reclaiming of artistic voice. Drawing on stories of undomesticated goddesses and impassioned gods, the works uphold the possibility of regeneration amidst stifling convention," Adwait wrote in the curatorial note.

As she struggled to keep her skills sharp in a troubled marriage where colours were frowned upon, Kohli found herself turning towards "accounts of recalcitrant and unrestrained femininity in mythology, folklore, and day-to-day life, epitomised by the figure of Kali roaming the shamshan".

"The goddess’ transfixing gaze, abject appearance, and lolling tongue offer a sharp contrast to the demure devinities, bestowing smiles and benedictions from the walls of Hindu homes. In her truculent dishabille, Kali offers a model of liberation—a welcome break from gruelling social conventions, regimenting women’s bodies, appearance, and movement; her streaming halo of hair, like Medusa’s snakes, pointing to myriad possibilities for bodily rewilding," the curator said.

In a later phase, after Kohli joind Triveni Kala Sangam in 1994, she turned towards painting "saintly, self-sacrificing profiles", a reflection of the toll taken by years of mandatory matrimony.

"The saintly, self-sacrificing profiles are in contradistinction to the irreverent exploits of Kama Dev and Rati of former years — a fact that only serves to emphasise her desperation for an escape, even a renunciatory one. Symbols of confinement — hands grabbing at prison bars and plumb bobs signalling a stalemate between conjugality and creativity — hint at torrential currents underneath surficial placidity," Adwait said.

In contrast with her early and mid-career works, Kohli's latest paintings are marked by the use of bright colours, almost as if a celebration of life.

"Before long, the muted palettes and sfumato of these paintings will yield to the bolder expressions, typified by the Golden Womb series, as a life of comforts gets swapped for a barsati of her own, and a new domesticity discovered. This emergent, ebullient, and ennobling domesticity will continue to animate her subjects and palettes for many years to come," the curator added.

While "Bodies of Sky, Bodies of Earth" comes to an end on January 25, "With Her Hair Running Wild" will run till March 15. PTI MAH MAH BK BK