This ongoing exhibition in Mumbai puts the spotlight on trees around you

An ongoing exhibition by a Delhi-based artist duo puts the spotlight on trees to explore their cultural significance in the modern world

Without sneaking a peek, would you be able to describe the trees outside your window right now? If you drew a blank, much like this writer did, you’ve confirmed artist duo Jiten Thukral and Sumir Tagra's fear of the world turning increasingly ‘plant blind’. “We build our homes and lives around trees, and yet never consider them to be vital parts of the cultural identity of our surroundings,” explains Thukral. Through their exhibition Arboretum - Ebb and Flow, the Delhi-based artists are putting the spotlight on the flora that have new stories and old memories to share.

Arboretum 25 - Quercus Pyrenaica Willd - A, 2024. PICS COURTESY/THUKRAL & TAGRA; NATURE MORTE INDIA

The duo has nurtured a longstanding love for trees. “The idea struck us during the COVID-19 lockdown when we moved out of Delhi and video-called each other. I would take screenshots of the vibrant trees in Pondicherry that Jiten would show me,” recalls Tagra. These screenshots, owing to the network interferences, carried with them artefacts such as glitches and blurs.

The collection of art works features odes to the chinar tree in Kashmir University’s Naseem Bagh campus, memories of holidays in Japan, and the nostalgic yellow amaltas flowers from Punjab. “The chinar, for instance, has been a mainstay in Kashmiri music, literature and festivities. We see it as a sentient being who has witnessed the history of the region firsthand,” the duo shares.

Arboretum 24 - Platanus Orientalis, 2024

Tagra points us to various researches and theories that corroborate their belief. Canadian Ecologist Suzanne Simard, for instance, reveals how trees communicate through a network of soil fungi to share nutrients, carbon, and water. When we observe the photorealistic artworks closely, the glitches and blurs, they all find a reflection in the overall aesthetic. “The glitches reminded me of how we view trees in the modern world. 

Some people capture it in their photographs, some film them in motion, some write poems. We decided to turn our photographs into canvas paintings and imagine each stroke as a pixel,” explains Thukral. The artists project the images on a canvas and then, intricately paint over the details.

Sumir Tagra and Jiten Thukral

For Tagra, the return to Mumbai to present the works is a reminder of their passion for exploring unfamiliar terrain. “When we visited Japan for the first time in 2002 to document the trees there, we headed out armed with a simple printed map and nothing else. In many ways, the audience for art in Mumbai is similar. The city has a culture of stepping out and exploring galleries and learning something new every day,” he signs off.       
 
TILL October 12; 11 am to 7 pm (Sundays closed)
AT Nature Morte Mumbai Gallery, Dhanraj Mahal, Colaba.
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