PRITHVI SUKTA: HYMN FOR PLANET EARTH

The experience of the oneness of things articulated in clay, has been the inspiration for this project. Undefined forms that reference animals, plants, human beings, a bowl, a pitcher, rocks and mountains — all come together. These living and non-living mutating forms are in a continuous flux, magically metamorphosing into one another; the polarities of organic/inorganic, manmade/natural, realist/abstract, all break free from their restive, constricting boundaries to flow into one another. It is a vision of the Earth as a sacred space where everything is connected. One enters the mythic logic of a world, forever young and at the beginning of everything; an eternal jubilation of being that continuously alternates with a transient becoming. To enter the spirit of the mountain and forest here is to enter the realm of ancestors, to become a part of the landscape.

SHAMPA SHAH’s practice in clay is located in the dialogue between the traditional and the modern and overlaps with her writing and curating. In a three-decade-long journey, she has exhibited widely in India and abroad. She established the Ceramic Section at Indira Gandhi National Museum of Man (IGRMS), Bhopal and headed it for over two decades. At the IGRMS, Shampa curated important exhibitions around mythology, tribal, folk, and contemporary art and craft practices including the permanent exhibition Mythological Trail. A five-time recipient of the AIFACS Award, she has also received the Junior National Fellowship of Ministry of Human Resources and of Roopankar Bharat Bhavan. She publishes widely on contemporary art and storytelling traditions of India and has many publications including Tribal Arts and Crafts of Madhya Pradesh published by Mapin.