Nandita Mukand
  • Portfolio
    • Vessels of Change
    • Urban Veil & Quickening
    • Mind(less) Wilderness
    • Forest Weft, City Warp
    • Paintings
    • The Tree and Me
    • Blossom Flourish Wither Perish
    • Empty Vessels & The Unborn
    • Dead Plants Don't Grow
    • Entropic Orders
    • Lessons from Nature (Drawing)
    • The Essential Rhythm
  • About
    • Bio
    • Curriculum Vitae
  • Press
  • News
  • Contact

Forest Weft, City Warp

My work finds inspiration from forests, from trees and plants and lichens and moss and fungi and mushrooms- from things that grow and decay. In this series  I have broken down everyday urban and industrial materials and fashioned them into the forms and textures of Nature. Each piece functions as a kind of “urban veil” symbolic of an attempt to look beyond the distractions of city life that obscure and disallow the spiritual clarity that is accessible in Nature.

​Curatorial Essay
Picture
Picture
What the Wind Whispers 1
Cloth, Paper, Plaster, Epoxy Resin, Paint and Wire
45 x 43 x 25 cm
2017
​Private Collection


Picture
Entropy Blossoms
Cloth, Paper, Plaster, Epoxy Resin, Paint and Wire
70 x 80 x 20 cm
2017
​Private Collection


Picture
The Sky Grows out of the Mud
Cloth, Paper, Plaster, Epoxy Resin, Paint and Wire
54 x 62 x 11 cm
2017
​Private Collection


The hunter-gatherer phase of existence occupies at least ninety percent of human history and this may be why experiencing the Natural world has such a therapeutic impact, connecting at a deep psychic level. When I walk alone in the forests and in the mountains, often I have had a keen awareness of how my body is as organic as the trees, plants and earth around me. It is only the story in my brain that tells me I am a separate identity-the ego that tries to assert itself. When out in Nature I know myself to be a part of it and also of all other living beings. Cloth is used extensively in these works, its interwoven threads symbolizing this interconnectedness at the spiritual level.
I find coherence and beauty in the rhythms of Nature. Processes in Nature follow their own gradual path and cannot be hurried. The barks of trees for example bear the marks of the storms it has weathered, the erosion, the moss and fungi that have grown on it, its own growth marks. One can almost see its building up over the decades on its surface. My work too is built up in layers. It requires waiting for one layer to dry before the next can be applied and in this way the work too cannot be hurried and grows at a certain pace or rhythm dictated by the materials. In this series this effect has been even more pronounced as not only have I used materials like paint and paper that need to dry but also materials like plaster and epoxy resin that have a curing time.
Many of the forms have been created by molding the humble (quintessentially urban) material of toilet paper to the bones of my fingers. Curiously, this trace of the human body becomes a form reminiscent of corals, forest blossoms or fungi growing on the bark of trees- another reminder of how our bodies our connected to natural formations.

Picture
The Dust Holds Untold Treasures 1
Cloth, Paper, Plaster, Epoxy Resin, Paint and Wire
67 x 77 x 10 cm
​2017
​Private Collection


Picture

​The Dust Holds Untold Treasures 2
Cloth, Paper, Plaster, Epoxy Resin, Paint and Wire

73 x 85 x 9 cm
2017
​Private Collection


Picture
Sunshine Groves
Cloth, Paper, Rope, Wool, Plaster, Epoxy Resin, Paint and Wire
96 x 77 x 20 cm
2017
Private Collection


Picture
Weaving in Growth
Cloth, Plaster, Plastic, Epoxy Resin, Wire and Paint
80 x 37 x 20 cm

2017
Picture
What the Wind Whispers 2
Cloth, Paper, Plaster, Epoxy Resin, Paint and Wire
54 x 70 x 10 cm
2017
​Private Collection


Picture
Entropy Flourishes
Cloth, Paper, Plaster, Epoxy Resin, Paint and Wire
47 x 67 x 12 cm
2017
​Private Collection


Picture
Each Little Flower that Opens
Cloth, Paper, Plaster, Wool, Epoxy Resin, Paint and Wire
98 x 108 x 11 cm
2017
​Private Collection


Picture
Seedlings
Cloth, Paper, Plaster, Epoxy Resin, Hot Glue and Paint
88 x 82 x 18 cm
2017

Picture
Picture
Picture
Interwoven Landscapes 1
Cloth, Rope, Plaster, Epoxy Resin and Paint
89 x 103 x 7 cm
2017
​Private Collection


Picture
Entangled Hope
Cloth, Paper, Plaster, Epoxy Resin, Paint and Wire
44 x 50 x 14 cm
2017
​Private Collection


Picture
The Call of the Forest
Cloth, Plastic, Paper, Rope, Hot Glue, Plaster, Epoxy Resin, Paint and Wire
52 x 42 x 18 cm
2017

Picture
Picture
Growing in Things Wild 1
Cloth, plaster, paper, resin, paint wire
15 x 56 x 28 cm
2017

Picture
Snuggling into the Landscape
Cloth, Paper, Plaster, Epoxy Resin, Paint and Wire
65 x 150 x 33 cm
2017
Copyright © 2014 - 2020 Nandita Mukand