'When the Moon is Nine Months Full' unveiled at the Tao Art Gallery

Seema Kohli`s artwork

Curated by Shaunak Mahbubani, artist Seema Kohli's exhibition, titled 'When the Moon is Nine Months Full,' stands as a captivating part of the Mumbai Gallery Weekend 2024. The event will kick off with a special preview on January 11, 2024 (Thursday, from 5 pm to 9 pm) and extend its display until February 11, 2024, with daily viewing hours from 11 am to 7 pm. The venue for this unique artistic journey is the Tao Art Gallery.

Inspired by the mystic essence of Kashmiri poet Lal Ded, the exhibition transcends temporal boundaries, showcasing an exquisite collection of paintings and sculptures that intricately bridge human and cosmic elements. The theme revolves around the profound contemplation of time (Kaal), delving into the exploration of continuity, vulnerability, duration, and public participation.

The artist celebrates the labour of birthing, care, repair, and resistance undertaken by women for centuries, visualising the adjacency between feminine and forest, of bodies relegated to reproduction, unrewarded and unrecognized under the regime of material productivity. In a poignant series, Kohli pays homage to this reciprocity through the trailblazing women of the Chipko movement (Gharwal Himalayas, 1970 onwards) deeply imprinted in her memory from when she was a child.

Reflecting on her artistic practice, Seema shares, "The contemplation of Kaal or time, is central to my practice. The aspects of continuity, repetition, vulnerability, duration, temporality, awareness, situation, and public participation are inherent qualities that inform my art practice. I extensively explore the female form as an embodiment of the cosmic feminine energy of Shakti."

Turning her gaze towards the underbelly of gender and recognizing the shadow side of mythological representation, the artist leaps into new territory, birthing what Ursula Le Guin has termed,"her third self". Across the elements - wood, bronze, canvas - eagles and swans with wings outstretched accompany her flight, channeling courage and introspection respectively. In deftly conjoining her lineage of spiritual eco-feminism with a renewed hunger for equitable worlds, Seema Kolhi marks herself as a force that can neither be contained nor forgotten.