ShivaniMathur Read about Shivani
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Pathways of light
Winner of a Highly recommended award 'Maison zero. This earth' for sustainability by LVMH
One evening, as I walked down my street, overcome with a feeling of hopelessness - everything in my world had cracked I happened to pass by a heap of rubbish where someone had discarded eggshells.
I stopped and stared at it.
I stopped and stared at it.
Unknown to me at that time, this was the moment, 'Pathways of light' was conceived.
It is made with decaying materials: waste eggshell and broken mirror sheets This year in June, 'Pathways of light' hung at Granary square won the highly commended 'Maison zero, this earth' award for sustainability by LVMH.
It is made with decaying materials: waste eggshell and broken mirror sheets This year in June, 'Pathways of light' hung at Granary square won the highly commended 'Maison zero, this earth' award for sustainability by LVMH.
When I created it, I did not try to repair cracks in the broken materials. I began to study non linear patterns in mathematics and in art and using heat/vacuum, I accentuated cracks and changed the topology of the mirror till the light entered cracks, bounced off the distorted mirror.
It began to look like a shrine.The cracks were no longer fault lines- they became pathways for light to enter, symbolic of topple old paradigms and bring in fresh ideas hope and optimism
It began to look like a shrine.The cracks were no longer fault lines- they became pathways for light to enter, symbolic of topple old paradigms and bring in fresh ideas hope and optimism
. As a viewer approaches the shrine, it lights up and a sound begins to play. Inside the shrine sits a woman called Humpty Dumpty version 2.0. recomposed from decaying eggshells - Humpty Dumpty has been 'put back again' into a new avatar. Humpty Dumpty V2.0 is an icon of regeneration, sustainability and optimism that order emerges from decay and crisis. This installation is a call to action - can cracks make us see the invisible, feel the intangible and touch the impossible?
The process
Process to make the Cracked shrine and ceiling
After cutting and salvaging old battered mirror, it was subject to a vacuum chamber along with clay and eggshell to enhance cracks and undulating/non linear topology
After cutting and salvaging old battered mirror, it was subject to a vacuum chamber along with clay and eggshell to enhance cracks and undulating/non linear topology
Three meter sheets of mirror that were damaged and cracked were cut
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The cracked mirror was subject to heat and vacuum to accentuate the cracks. Topology of mirror changes.
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Process to make Humpty Dumpty V2.0
After washing, drying, grinding 150 kilo eggshell, I bind it with a natural binder to cast sculpture and mosaic. It uses no heat, no chemicals, natural binders and took weeks to dry.
After washing, drying, grinding 150 kilo eggshell, I bind it with a natural binder to cast sculpture and mosaic. It uses no heat, no chemicals, natural binders and took weeks to dry.
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Washed, waste eggshell
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Hanging the installation at Granary Square, London. June 2022
In an iconic building - the granary at Kings cross, now Central Saint Martins, the installation was hung over a period of seven days. The ceiling at Central Saint Martins is 24 meters high, open to the sky - a perfect venue for light to stream through cracks of the ceiling of this installation.
In an iconic building - the granary at Kings cross, now Central Saint Martins, the installation was hung over a period of seven days. The ceiling at Central Saint Martins is 24 meters high, open to the sky - a perfect venue for light to stream through cracks of the ceiling of this installation.
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Supporting work created while developing the idea:
As the idea was being developed. I explored with digital works and mosaics which were exhibited in smaller exhibitions and open studios.
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A moment in Time . ‘A moment in Time’ is a work in two parts - an image printed using a traditional Riso print technique and a NFT. The theme in the print and the NFT is the same - breakage, dissolving, regenerationibut the techniques are contrasting. The still image is chosen from the generative art that creates infinite images of an eggshell dissolve into a cloud of colours. Exhibited at Merch, an exhibition of prints and NFT at the Lethaby Gallery, Granary square, February 2022. |
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Cracks in us Eggshell and mirror mosaic the reflects a viewers image through cracks Exhibited in studio May 2022 |
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Pathways of light
Winner of a Highly recommended award 'Maison zero. This earth' for sustainability by LVMH ‘Pathways of light’, a sound & light installation exhibited at Granary Square, 14 - 22 June 2022. was inspired by non linear mathematical patterns. Inspired by mathematics, and my previous experience of trading erratic financial markets, my art explores non linear phenomenon in which cracks suddenly widen, causing seismic shifts. I explore how can cracks in our past decisions be an agent of change that awaken us to see the invisible, to topple old paradigms and to bring light in out thinking? Can light streaming through cracks lead to innovation that turns disruption into positive change. This installation is a display of cracks that preexisted in the material used in the artwork. , These cracks were not repaired, instead they were accentuated using heat and vacuum to be displayed not fault line but also as a pathway that lets light in. The work is in two parts - a 2.25 meter x 1.6 meter cracked ceiling that lets in light from the sky - a shrine. Inside the shrine of the installation sits a woman called Humpty Dumpty version 2.0. ( 15 cmx10 cm) She is made from decaying eggshells that have been recomposed - Humpty Dumpty has been 'put back again' into a new avatar. As a viewer approaches the shrine, it lights up and a low volume sound begins to play ( you can hear by clicking this link) Humpty Dumpty V2.0 is an icon of regeneration, sustainability and optimism that order emerges from decay and crisis. The new world that emerges from our climate crisis, like Humpty Dumpty Version 2 is unlikely to resemble our existing world. This installation is a call to action to see the light through cracks. .Can cracks make us see the invisible, feel the intangible and touch the impossible? |
