Trupti Patel, in her latest show — Homelands, uses clay, earth, soil, ash, seed, water and plants as the constitutive materials of her sculptural creations. The relationship between ‘being’ and creative consciousness derives its mortal moorings from the earth or soil. The indication of the use of soils from specific locations by the artist suggests that for her soil is not mere undifferentiated matter but partakes of memory and history of that location. It thus brings in both the human identity and the created work aspects of inter subjectivity and shared identity on the one hand and the flavour of the unique being on the other hand. The constitutive elements of the earth — plants, water, and soil, are the elements or tattvas while remaining the organic substratum or jada jeeva that give shape to any form. The idea of Homeland thus can be traced to its materiality, and it is no wonder that any dislocation from the Hiemat evokes anguish, pain, disjuncture and existential angst. One of the most evocative works in the selection on display is ‘You’re To Keep This Water In Your Home, instructed my Mother’. The title is quite suggestive of the discourse of tradition as passed through social and religious ‘relics’ that are much more than mere objects, for each such relic is embedded with personal and collective histories and memories. The sealed copper water vessel with Gangajal is the constitutive other of the earth element; both soil and water come together in ceramic and clay works to create a fertile matrix for life and creativity both. In another work ‘Homeland in the Mind’, figures seem to emerge from and cling to a human head. These figures may represent emanations form or creations within the mind to suggest that all the notions that make up an imagined nation, community, identity are inherent in the environment; the environment as earth and other materials, the transpersonal source and substance of the idea of the homeland or of the creative epos. Trained as a sculptor, these works demonstrate her understanding of the negative and positive surfaces. Subtle and sophisticated, the works are visually very effective.
