Back with a bag

After presenting large scale installations of fused plastic at a group show last year, artist Aaditi Joshi explores a minimal form through polypropylene bags in her new solo

Every year, our country generates 9.46 million tonnes of plastic waste. What's even grimmer than this figure is the fact that 40 per cent of it remains uncollected. And even though some of us continue to ignore the damage and treat the plastic menace as only a buzzword, artist Aaditi Joshi has made it her inspiration — using plastic as a medium of art.

Last year, the city-based artist was part of Wasteland, a group show at TARQ, and presented large installations comprising fused plastic bags. This year, she returns for her first solo at the gallery, for which she's adopted a minimal approach. An ongoing exhibition, New Works by Aaditi Joshi makes use of polypropylene (PP) bags.

PP bag wrapped on wooden frames in two layers

Her works can be classified into three series. While one is a combination of white cement and PP bags, the others feature the material woven with wood armature and wrapped on wooden frames with two layers. Each series features between 10 to 15 works. Switching to PP from polythene wasn't sudden for Joshi. "I've been working on the collection in my studio since 2015. This is a medium you see every day as cement bags. The question for me was, how do I take this and translate it into my own language," she shares.

Joshi has sourced the bags from construction sites in Borivali and Goregaon. "Unlike my previous work, I didn't paint on the material at all. In fact, I've used the company logo on the bags as brush strokes," she explains. The visual aspect has always taken precedence over any direct message for Joshi. For instance, she is able to form a connection with an image of floating plastic objects rather than the environmental statement it draws. For, as Joshi concludes, "Art isn't just about thinking. It is about seeing and doing."

Aaditi Joshi

Till September 28, 11 am to 6.30 pm
At TARQ, F35/36 Dhanraj Mahal, Apollo Bunder, Colaba.
Call 66150424
Free

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