Shilpa Gupta
Tree Drawings, 2013
Shilpa Gupta, Tree Drawings, 2013, Courtesy the artist and neugerriemschneider, Berlin, Photo: Jens Ziehe
In her multidisciplinary, often participatory artistic practice, Shilpa Gupta (*1976, Mumbai, IN) enquires into notions of belonging, borders and locality. She is interested in the influence of collective and individual perceptions on definitions of the world – and, consequently, what leads to these conceptions being expanded and surpassed.
In her work Tree Drawings, consisting of five individual compositions, the artist relates this approach to the cross-cultural relevance of nature. Minimalist frames surround stark white sheets of paper, each featuring a thin line of thread. The threads emulate the silhouettes of five different tree species, each of which tends to transcend national borders and is equally valued by the populations on both sides: while the habitat of the mango tree stretches from India to Pakistan, mangroves span the border region between India and Bangladesh. The acacia tree populates various nations of the western Sahara, the olive tree is a national symbol in both Palestine and Israel, and pecan nuts are an integral part of both Mexican and US cuisine. Noted below the outlines of each composition are the length of the string used in ratio to the fences built along the borders in question, drawing a parallel between the outlines rendered in thread and the national borders.