'Infinity in a Box', showcased at the second edition of Sā Ladakh — Asia's highest land art experience on climate, culture, and community, is an evocative land art installation by interdisciplinary artists Ikshit Pande and Jasmeet Kaur. Originating from Nainital and Ahmedabad respectively, Pande and Kaur utilize conceptual dress-making to weave thought-provoking narratives that blend body and the message.
'Infinity in a Box' explores the intricate relationship between climate change, overtourism, and the majestic beauty of the Himalayas. The land-textile installation revolves around the intersection of hyperconsumerism, the carrying capacity of communities, and the geography of the majestic mountainscape that holds everything together.
The project emphasizes co-creation and community engagement. Developed on-site over a week, Pande and Kaur invited local communities and visitors to contribute materials and partake in the creation process, fostering a collective expression of concern and creativity.
We caught with Ikshit and Jasmeet to find out more about the installation.
Tell us about 'Infinity in a Box'.
Ikshit Pande
Our aim with 'Infinity in a Box' is to create a visual metaphor that encapsulates the stark contrasts between the perceived beauty of our environment and the hidden threats it faces. We hope to inspire a deeper understanding and dialogue around these urgent issues."
The installation features a glasshouse-like structure made of silk and local wood, elevated to a great height, with a suspended anatomical heart formation inside. This heart, adorned with handmade flowers, strings, and lacework (all from repurposed textile waste) symbolizes the weight of the landscape, burdened by landfills and overtourism. The iridescent silk covering the structure contrasts the superficially stunning exterior with the underlying environmental issues.
Jasmeet Kaur
"Engaging with the local community in creating this installation has been a profound experience. It reinforces the idea that art can be a powerful tool for awareness and change, bringing people together to address the environmental challenges we collectively face."
What are some things you learned while putting this project together?
The power of community based solutions. When you channelize a whole lot of people, especially the ones that are at the centre of a work, the output not only resonates better; it also becomes a collective voice towards change.
What are some of your biggest inspirations over the years of your artistic career?
Our biggest inspiration over the years has been a matter-of-fact approach to story telling that seamlessly fits like an obvious part of a larger narrative on relevant social issues. Things often overlooked because they are too simple or are not emphasized enough. Most of the times the answers are all there and the solutions very simple. However in the chaos of the modern world the basic is always shoved aside and often ignored.
Describe your creative process and the purpose with which you create.
Our creative purpose is very simple: look at the continuous thread across our body of work and take it to new places by adapting to the contexts at hand. Instead of reimagining our take on things we look at our truth that we have held sacred as artists and find answers within such vocabulary. A natural evolution of one work into another with a building upon rather starting afresh is the gist of our creative process. The purpose with which we create is simple: to push the world creative agenda into a fresh direction, to add little by little by stretching the boundaries of the obvious.
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