Vibha Galhotra (b. 1978, lives and works in Delhi, India) is conceptual artist whose multimedia oeuvre including sculptures, installations, photographs, videos, site-specific work, and public art interventions addresses the shifting topography of a world radically transformed by climate change, consumerism, capitalism, and globalization. Propelled by the constant negotiation between human beings and their ecosystem, Galhotra’s practice utilizes intensive research and intuitive imagination to investigate the social, economic, and political implications of human activity on the environment. She draws from varied disciplines, including the fine arts, ecology, economics, science, spirituality, and political activism to inform a poetic visual response to the environmental changes and restructuring of culture, society, and geography occurring in today’s world.
A fundamental tenet in Galhotra’s work is Yat pinde tat Brahmande (“Whatever is in the microcosm is also in the macrocosm”). In other words, the five fundamental elements traditionally believed to constitute all matter exist in every human being, and therefore the destruction of nature will inevitably imply the extinction of all life. This concern extends througout Galhotra’s entire practice. Using found urban detritus that the artist collects from her hometown of Delhi, Galhotra creates multi-sensory works that blur the boundaries between belief and reality, public and private, and science and spirituality. Her visual vocabulary aims to critically examine humanity’s socially constructed systems through the negotiation of materiality, process, and symbolism. Each series begins by questioning the existing condition of the world and materializes in objects that often engage traditional practices and labor-intensive manual craftsmanship. Galhotra’s work often features her signature use of ghungroo, a small metallic bell used to create musical anklets specific to India. The artist clusters and tightly sews thousands of ghungroo to render sculptural abstract landscapes with unique texture and volume. Inspired by seeds worn by ancient people for ornamental reasons, Galhotra uses the bells from these anklets to create compositions that mimic the sprawl of both the natural and man-made world. Her ghungroo works undergo a metaphysical transformation through the artist’s application of color, which mimics the mapping structures of termites, algae growing over natural surfaces, or expansive urban debris covering landscapes previously dominated by nature.
VIBHA GALHOTRA
Born 1978
M.F.A. Kala Bhavan,Viswa Bharti University,Shantiniketan
B.F.A. Government College of Art, Chandigarh
AWARDS,GRANTS and FELLOWSHIPS:
Sanatan Sangeet Sanskriti Puraskar, 2024,
Jerusalem International Fellows, Jerusalem, Israel, 2022
Asia Arts Future – Asia Arts Game Changer Awards India 2019 Asia Culture Council Grant, New York, 2017
Rockefeller Foundation, Bellagio Center Grant, Bellagio, Italy, 2016
Young Women Achievers Award given by Young FICCI Ladies Organisation (YFLO), 2015 Best of Discovery, 2008
Inlaks Foundation Fine Arts Award, 2004
National Scholarship by the Human Resource Department, Government of India, 2003
Artist under 30 Award, 1998 Chandigarh State, Lalit Kala Akademy Award 1998
SOLO EXHIBTIONS & PROJECTS:
2024:
Climacteric Whispers- Goodman Gallery London
Future Fable- A Large Scale Architectonic Sculpture with sound
2022-23:
Silent Seasons- Nature Morte, New Delhi
Who Owns the Water ? Interactive Dinner Project, Jerusalem
Mountain to the Sea ? Audio and Sculptural Installation, Jerusalem
Source: https://vibhagalhotra.com/
