What does a home truly mean? Is it merely a structure, or a living, breathing entity that reflects our deepest desires and anxieties? Who are we in the spaces we inhabit and how do these spaces define us? The Desired Scaffold, a new exhibition at Gallery XXL, invites us to contemplate these questions and more.

The show brings together a diverse group of artists – Akash Joshi, Anikesa Dhing, Ashima Raizada, Bhuwal Prasad, Harisha Chennangod, Harnoor Juneja, Kapil Jangid, Sabiha Dohadwala, and Vikrant Kano – to explore the complex relationship between architecture and the human experience. Through a variety of mixed media works, the artists delve into the hidden meanings embedded within the spaces we inhabit. From the grand scale of urban landscapes to the intimate corners of our homes, the exhibition offers a kaleidoscope of perspectives and dives into the subtext of what it means to occupy a place as a person.

Sabiha Dohadwala, Harisha Chennangod, and Bhuwal Prasad will give us a bird’s-eye view of things, examining how we perceive and navigate our surroundings. In contrast, Kapil Jangid and Vikrant Kano will focus on personal histories, exploring the politics of displacement and the enduring impact of ancestral lands.

The exhibition's design aims to guide viewers through a labyrinth of emotions and ideas. It invites us to question the boundaries between public and private; the familiar and the foreign. The artists will approach the subject of a space through different contexts and themes. Harnoor Juneja’s photographs of the street serve as a bridge between these worlds, while the works of Anikesa Dhing, Akash Joshi, and Ashima Raizada delve into the complexities of gender and domesticity.

The Desired Scaffold is an invitation to look beyond the facade of our built environment and uncover the stories it holds. By examining the spaces we occupy, and our relationship to them, we gain a deeper understanding of ourselves and the world around us. As the exhibition synopsis states, “From the rarely explored and talked about corners, doors, windows and indentures that surround us to the functional but hierarchically nether spaces of the kitchen and the toilet room, as well as the entries and exits into familiar and unfamiliar spaces that we encounter, the exhibition offers a plural imagination of architectures of culture, shelter, belonging, isolation, longing, and nostalgia.”

The Desired Scaffold will run till September 6. You can find out more here.

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