1×1 Art Gallery (Alserkal Avenue) presents The Traps we Weave, an exhibition by Indian artist Shivani Aggarwal. It will remain open until the 31st of December, 2022. The art pieces which are on display in the show reflect the idea of traps that people weave around themselves and get caught in because of thinking within their social, cultural and political boundaries.
Creating her artworks, Aggarwal has been using everyday tools: she alters them in different ways and translates them in wood. They serve as symbols of functionality from personal, political or societal standpoints. For Aggarwal, the idea of the ‘self’ is also a tool. It functions and becomes dysfunctional or is compromised due to circumstances, pressures, self-doubts and societal conditioning which are woven and stitched into our “fabric”. A distorted object speaks of an intervention, silent violence, helplessness and surrender.
Aggarwal’s art practice includes drawing, sculpting, painting and stitching threads onto the surface or the skin or weaving them into a free flowing structure. Using her unique visual language, the artist reflects on the forced thinking within boundaries and how they change and distort one forever.
Shivani Aggarwal, born in New Delhi, India, 1975, now resides in Delhi. She got a Bachelor of Fine Art degree at College of Art, New Delhi in 1996. In 2003, she graduated from Wimbledon School of Art, London, UK, with a Master of Arts degree.
Aggarwal has been given such awards as Garhi Grant by the Lalit Kala Akademy, in 2004, New Delhi; Charles Wallace India Trust Scholarship in 2003, London, UK; Graphic scholarship at the Kanoria Centre For Arts, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, 1997; and International Workshop & Residency ‘PARTAGE’ in 2004, Mauritius.
Apart from solo exhibitions, the artist has participated in many group exhibitions including Lionel Wendt gallery, Sri Lanka, 2003; Galleria Borowski, Cologne, Germany, 2003; PARTAGE Flic en Flac, Mauritius, 2004; Ways of Seeing by gallery Art Alive at Visual Arts Gallery, India, Habitat Centre, 2005; Young artist’s art festival Korea with Gallery Exhibit 320, August 2010; Intarsia/memory trace with Sakshi gallery, Mumbai, 2011; and others.
To get more information, please visit the official web page of the exhibition.
You might also be interested in visiting “Your Brain to Me, My Brain to You” by Pipilotti Rist.
