Bloody Dark Body features works that transform graphite and wood into abstract forms

Time shapes us in many ways. Life offers us fragments of experiences: some borrowed, some kept, others left behind. There are stories we never tell again, and a few that refuse to leave us. Singapore-based artist Mahalakshmi Kannappan’s solo exhibition Bloody Dark Body contemplates this delicate interplay of reality, exploring memory, transformation, and endurance through her layered sculptural forms.

Mahalakshmi reflects on what stays, what changes, and how identity evolves between different cultural and temporal spaces

“I am originally from Tamil Nadu. My practice revolves around material transformation, working primarily with reconstituted charcoal and plaster. I explore ideas of impermanence, duality, memory, and endurance through materials that carry both fragility and strength,” Mahalakshmi says. Having lived between India and Singapore, she often ends up reflecting on what stays, what changes, and how identity evolves between different cultural and temporal spaces.

Mahalakshmi has created 12 new works for Bloody Dark Body. It continues the dialogue from her previous show, perpetual shift, which explored the rhythm of change between India and Singapore. Explaining the title, she says, “Bloody Dark Body refers to the body as a material form, fractured yet enduring. The word ‘bloody’ connects to the visceral and human, while ‘dark body’ relates to the density of black as a carrier of memory and time.” Together, she explains, they express endurance within rupture, the persistence of form and being despite fracture. The art pieces are not representations of anything specific, but metaphors for tolerance and change. “Each piece becomes a body that carries the marks of time, much like how we carry our memories and histories with in our selves,” Mahalaskhmi adds.

Each work begins with pow dered charcoal that she mixes with glue and water to form a semi-liquid material.“Once poured and dried, the surface forms a thick, paper-like skin which i break and re-layer using the same mixture. When combined with plaster, it creates a dialogue between fragility and strength,” she mentions. While her work begins from personal experience, the emotions it carries are universal Mahalaskhmi invites viewers to find their own meaning in these surfaces, to recognise how we all live with rupture, stability and patience in our own unique ways.

Free entry. On till November 30, 5.30 pm to 7.30 pm.

At Srishti Art Gallery, Jubilee Hills.

Mail ID: sakshisuresh.k@newindianexpress.com

Twitter: @kaithwas_sakshi

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