New Colaba exhibition traces the connection between humans and Earthly elements

The two boulders with holes cored out are Neha Choksi’s way of exploring the concept of “violence” by humans against the elements

I love going to beaches," artist Neha Choksi tells us. "I've spent hours sitting at the beach and often seen children digging into the sand. It led me to wonder why they do that." Little did she know that she would one day connect her idle ruminations with the concept of excavation - quite literally the practice of digging into the ground - through art.

Porous Earth is the 50-year-old artist's latest exhibition that was unveiled at Project 88 in Colaba on Thursday. It has five pieces, including a music score that lays down a set of instructions for the viewer on how to embrace the experience. "I have deliberately not issued a press release or revealed much about it. I want people to engage, to imagine, to walk through the work. Apart from the first one, also titled Porous Earth, the exhibition comprises pieces named Holdings, Held, Untimely and Are Violences Ancient?" she tells us.

Neha Choksi

It is the last theme that Choksi explores through two boulders, with holes cored through their center repeatedly and successively, increasing the diameter of the hollow. Through this, she delves into the theme of "violence", be it through a child digging through sand or excavators digging through earth.

"I have been working with stones since 2016. I love looking at the relationship between something so hard, so obdurate and so difficult as stone and something as soft, fleshy and yielding as the human body. There is an element of nature in my work but also some very philosophical questions raised through material means," says Choksi.

This is hardly her first exhibition in Mumbai. The Los Angeles- born but Mumbai-raised artist has been working with Project 88 for a long time. She feels her early life and upbringing has an influence on her art as well. "I like the multiple points of view in my work. My older work, Faith and Friction, comes partly from my mother being a Jain. For this, I had turned over seven bits of video footage to different editors to work with. I also studied Greek, Latin, Sanskrit and Avestan, apart from poetry and theatre," she reveals.

WHAT: Porous Earth by Neha Choksi
WHERE: Project 88, Colaba
WHEN: March 28 to May 25, Tuesday to Saturday, 11 am to 7 pm