This exhibition draws on the poignant and visceral expressions of environmental change as seen through the eyes of Avi Shankar Ain. These works contemplate the fragility of our surroundings, reflecting an artist who engages with the complex interplay between the natural world and human experience. Ain’s process is one of accumulation and erasure, with various observations of a landscape that feels both intimate and expansive creating a space that is both personal and universal, inviting viewers to confront their own emotional connections to the environment.
A constant in Ain's work is the artist's role as a witness to environmental and social transformations. These paintings are not merely depictions of decay or loss but celebrations of resilience. A sense of place always sits quietly in the work, suggesting that even as horizons shift and landscapes fade, there is beauty in the transience of existence. Here, light behaves like memory sometimes stark and sharp, sometimes diffuse and forgiving simultaneously mourning what is lost and celebrating that which remains. Through the juxtaposition of warm tonalities and fragmented forms, Ain plays with adjacency, fragmenting and disassembling scales, reconstructing scenes to invoke moments reminiscent of nostalgia. This work invites us to reflect on how change, particularly environmental transition and the associated sense of displacement, manifests itself in a deeper understanding of the interconnectedness of place and existence. It's a call to acknowledge the grief that comes with loss while embracing the power of art as a medium for reflection and the poetic understanding of our evolving environments and personal traces on histories.
— Rayana Hossain, Founder, Platforms
