Ishara Art Foundation is thrilled to support Still They Know Not What I Dream, a new light-text sculpture by acclaimed Indian artist Shilpa Gupta, commissioned by Alserkal Arts Foundation. This evocative public artwork is part of Between a Beach and a Slope, a series of site-specific commissions curated by Fatoş Üstek. The installation will be unveiled on 13 April 2025 and remain on view until 31 May 2025 at The Yard, Alserkal Avenue.
The sculpture presents its text in reverse, subtly encouraging viewers to pause and reflect on how language, space, and identity intersect in daily life. It raises probing questions about the nature of the self, especially in contexts marked by surveillance, control, and resistance. Gupta continues her long-standing exploration of language as a tool of power and a vehicle for defiance.
Still They Know Not What I Dream complements the artist’s first solo exhibition in West Asia, Shilpa Gupta: Lines of Flight, also supported by Ishara Art Foundation and curated by Sabih Ahmed. The exhibition spans artworks from 2006 to the present, including sound installations, sculptures, and drawings, highlighting Gupta’s deep engagement with poetic justice and freedom of expression. Featured works such as A Liquid, The Mouth Froze, the Untitled series, and Listening Air underscore how language and poetry can bear witness in times of rising intolerance.
Speaking about the Still They Know Not What I Dream sculpture, Sabih Ahmed remarked: “[It] continues Shilpa Gupta’s play with language as a tool for control on the one hand and a medium of resistance on the other. The sculpture extends the exhibition’s exploration of poetic justice and how poets and writers navigate what can and cannot be spoken.”
Still They Know Not What I Dream is presented alongside works by Emirati poet and artist Nujoom Alghanem and Danish artist Kirstine Roepstorff as part of Between a Beach and a Slope.
About the artist
Shilpa Gupta (b. 1976, Mumbai, India), who lives and works in Mumbai, began studying sculpture at the Sir JJ School of Fine Arts between 1992 and 1997. She has since headed solo exhibitions at different venues, such as the Contemporary Art Center in Cincinnati (OH, USA), OK in Linz (Austria), and Lalit Kala Akademi in New Delhi (India), to name a few. In 2015, she presented the solo exhibition My East Is Your West at the Gujral Foundation’s venue in Venice.
Gupta has taken part in multiple group exhibitions and prestigious art events, including the 58th Venice Biennale (2019), Kochi Muziris Biennale (2018), Göteborg Biennial (2017), and Berlin Biennale (2014). Her artworks are part of many esteemed public collections, such as the Tate (London), Centre Pompidou (Paris, France), and the National Gallery of Canada (Ottawa).
About the Ishara Art Foundation
Ishara Art Foundation was founded in 2019 as a nonprofit organisation dedicated to presenting the contemporary art of South Asia. Located in Dubai, it supports the establishment of practices that provide opportunities for dialogue and global communication. Ishara Art realizes its mission through exhibitions, offline and online events, educational programs, and more. Dialogue between the South Asian art community and international artists also plays an important role in the foundation’s work.
In addition, you might be interested in exploring the Sharjah Biennial 16 and the Public Art Abu Dhabi Biennial.
