In her darkly humorous, poetic works, Vibha Galhotra confronts the shifting topography of her native India, producing mixed-media sculptures, installations, public projects, videos, and photographs that serve as indictments of urbanization and environmental degradation. As she describes: “Global warming is a real threat and so is terrorism. On the one hand, we are replacing natural landscapes with man-made things and then in a bid to snatch these, we spread terror.” Galhotra’s work lampoons the absurdity of this cycle, with a formal elegance inspired by traditional Indian culture and the large-scale environmental projects of Andy Goldsworthy and Christo & Jean-Claude. She often uses culturally resonant found objects. Untitled (Veil Triptych) (2011), for example, is a wall hanging composed of ghungroos (small, metallic bells worn by classical Indian and Pakistani dancers), showing a construction hook dangling menacingly above a cityscape.
In her darkly humorous, poetic works, Vibha Galhotra confronts the shifting topography of her native India, producing mixed-media sculptures, installations, public projects, videos, and photographs that serve as indictments of urbanization and environmental degradation. As she describes: “Global warming is a real threat and so is terrorism. On the one hand, we are replacing natural landscapes with man-made things and then in a bid to snatch these, we spread terror.” Galhotra’s work lampoons the absurdity of this cycle, with a formal elegance inspired by traditional Indian culture and the large-scale environmental projects of Andy Goldsworthy and Christo & Jean-Claude. She often uses culturally resonant found objects. Untitled (Veil Triptych) (2011), for example, is a wall hanging composed of ghungroos (small, metallic bells worn by classical Indian and Pakistani dancers), showing a construction hook dangling menacingly above a cityscape.
