When artist Sukanya Garg participated in a native South American healing ritual called Kambo, a shaman burned tiny holes into her skin in a pattern and applied frog poison on them to cleanse her body, mind, and spirit. This led to the formation of henna-coloured cellular-shaped scars. Purified and purged, she was inspired by this procedure to create art that was truly one-of-a-kind—paintings that replicated human cell structures. “I began to draw the form infinitely. What interests me is how the process of repeating a singular form translates into a practice of chanting—repetitive yet mesmerising, singular yet harmonious, with every chant telling different stories,” she says.
It is this form that she is presenting at an ongoing exhibition in Delhi. A selection of Garg’s artworks is on display, alongside other artists, at the Harvest 2022, an annual show organised by Payal Kapoor of Arushi Arts Gallery in Delhi and Los Angeles. This exhibition, on till March 31, is known for showcasing trending Indian contemporary art since its inception in 2001. The group show has a diverse mix of art and includes both traditional and contemporary works. Garg, also a programmes coordinator with the Reliance Art Foundation in Mumbai, has exhibited four pieces.
About the exhibition, the 33-year-old artist says, “As the theme for this year’s Harvest exhibition is ‘Breaking Out of Existing Patterns’, I chose works that were most reflective of this overall vision. Being selected to be part of this exhibition was an absolute delight for a young artist like me, as it allows me to showcase my work alongside masters in the field, especially Shobha Broota, who is also my guru.” Recently, she was also shortlisted for the 55th Annual Award Exhibition 2022 of the Birla Academy for Art & Culture, Kolkata.
A recipient of the Ravi Jain Memorial Annual Fellowship Award 2021 by Delhi’s Dhoomimal Gallery, Garg explains with great gusto how the human body has influenced her art. The human body is supposedly made of over 37 trillion living cells. While each cell looks almost identical, their functions and the hereditary material they contain keep transforming continuously. Garg believes that human cells are therefore a reflection of our constantly changing environment and the way we perceive things. This belief plays out in her tightly structured paintings, which consist of a smattering of colourful beadlike shapes displayed on stark black backgrounds.
These structures attempt to mirror our internal biological processes and the emotions of love, loss, grief, happiness, beauty, vulnerability, pain or healing—everything that makes us human. Garg’s practice is inspired by her travels across the world to understand distinctive methodologies of healing. This includes the traditional wisdom of Hinduism, Islam, Sufism, Animism, Shamanism and Amazonian tribal cultures. She explains, “My art centres around the concept of ‘Every Scar has a Story’ to narrate stories and experiences of scarless wounds, alchemising them through the visual language of cellular biology.”
Garg, who is also an arts writer, has participated in a number of prestigious exhibitions, including the Lumbini World Peace Exhibition in Taragaon Museum, Kathmandu; the Annual All India Fine Arts Exhibition, Academy of Fine Arts, Kolkata; Sign Here, Under the Mango Tree Art Space, Berlin; and Terrain Offline, Centre for Contemporary Art at Bikaner House, Delhi.
It seems the artist is set to go places.
WHEN & WHERE
Harvest 2022 Arushi Arts Gallery, Delhi (www.eindiart.com/annualshow) On till March 31.