‘Of place and places’ art expo opens at gallery Sarah

Muscat: An art exhibition titled ‘Of Place and Places’ recently opened at Gallery Sarah, which marked Omani-Indian artist Radhika Khimji’s second solo show at the gallery. The exhibition brings together Khimji’s photographic collages and sculptural works which elaborate her ongoing research into place and places.
In the exhibition, the artist has used images of abandoned houses in Kutch, India as well as street scenes in Muscat in order to explore resonances and similarities between the two places. There is a sense of lacking, of absence, in both sites, and an emptiness that is in direct contrast to the sculptures present in such close proximity within the same space.
One of the aspects of her artistic practice is the search for landscape as a site for her sculptures to belong within. Yet, there is a loud impossibility of the two ever meeting here, as the collages remain on the gallery walls while Khimji’s sculptures live in space: both are different and therefore negotiate space differently.
Sculptures perform different gestures and are tied together by wool incorporating wooden backgrounds as support. This particular body of sculptural work brings to attention gesture and how the body performs in space. The photo collages form the beginning of a new series entitled Across the Tropic of Cancer, based on research into the Kutchi communities of Oman, the place in India where Khimji’s ancestors come from, their heritage and how they first they arrived in Oman.
Radhika graduated from the Royal Academy of Art in 2005. Her previous solo exhibitions include B-Sides at Nature Morte Gallery in India (2009), Safe landings at Barka Castle in Oman (2010), Found Gesture at the Katara art Center in Qatar (2012). Her work was also part of the Jogja Biennale (2013), Fragments 2 at Gallery Sarah (2014), the 4th Ghetto Biennale, Port –Au – Prince, Haiti (2015) and more recently 6th Marrakesh Biennale, Marrakesh, Morocco (2016) and Art Dubai (2016).
‘Of Place and Places’ will be on display till the 20th of April 2016 from 9.30am till 6pm, Saturday to Thursday at Gallery Sarah at Bait Al Zubair.