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Lot Essay
Sheba Chhachhi’s work frequently addresses urban transformation and ecological concerns, particularly those related to water in the context of New Delhi, the city where she lives. A large and highly polluted conurbation, Delhi and the River Yamuna that runs through it have inspired several seminal works by the artist including Neelkanth – Poison/Nectar (2000–02), Water Diviner (2008) and Black Waters Will Burn (2011).
In this multi-layered lightbox from 2013 titled Seventy Synonyms for Water, Chhachhi revisits these themes using the new vocabulary of mechanically progressed still images she recently adopted. Through this slowly shifting pentimento-like piece the artist has achieved “a conceptual elegance [...] that combined a range of concerns – socio-cultural, ethical, environmental, in the context of overcrowded cities and the power politics over essentials like water – with an edgy lyricism in its presentation. As vertical strings of script – the Sanskrit names – kept falling gently like slow-motion rain on a claustrophobic press of houses before the silhouette of a human observer, there seemed to be the intimation of an apocalypse slowly creeping upon urban civilisation.” (R. Datta, ‘The bridge to apocalypse’, The Telegraph, Kolkata, 17 January 2015)
In this multi-layered lightbox from 2013 titled Seventy Synonyms for Water, Chhachhi revisits these themes using the new vocabulary of mechanically progressed still images she recently adopted. Through this slowly shifting pentimento-like piece the artist has achieved “a conceptual elegance [...] that combined a range of concerns – socio-cultural, ethical, environmental, in the context of overcrowded cities and the power politics over essentials like water – with an edgy lyricism in its presentation. As vertical strings of script – the Sanskrit names – kept falling gently like slow-motion rain on a claustrophobic press of houses before the silhouette of a human observer, there seemed to be the intimation of an apocalypse slowly creeping upon urban civilisation.” (R. Datta, ‘The bridge to apocalypse’, The Telegraph, Kolkata, 17 January 2015)