PROJECTS | PROCESS #04

G5A presents the fourth edition of our monthly series PROJECTS | PROCESS, where we offer audiences a chance to experience the immersive voyage that artists traverse when creating a work of art. Artists, performers, theatre makers, designers and creative professionals meet and talk about the significance of process and its relevance to project-making in contemporary India. This month, the speakers’ will explore the theme ‘Texture’ and its interpretation within their process. We have Savia Mahajan (Ceramist), Michel Casanovas (Choreographer), and Founders of Est. Form – Oona (Artist) & Sohni (Designer), who’ll present their work. The event is followed by a moderated discussion where the speakers will be in conversation with Sahil Arora, founder and curator at Method Art Space. The evening will continue with a Mixer at PORT Kitchen and Bar.

About Projects | Process:
In a world increasingly geared towards instant gratification and quantitative results, we invite you to take a pause and become a part of the transformational journey of rigour, riyaaz and relentless passion that is bound to bring hope, inspiration and rekindle curiosity about the artistic process!

Projects | Process, will be a monthly series as part of our new Season, and we hope it will revive the culture of deeper engagement with contemporary art and art making in India! G5A presents PROJECTS | PROCESS #04 – a monthly series where we offer audiences a chance to experience the immersive voyage that artists traverse when creating a work of art. Artists, performers, theatre makers, designers and creative professionals meet and talk about the significance of process and its relevance to project-making in contemporary India.

Projects | Process, will be a monthly series as part of our new Season, and we hope it will revive the culture of deeper engagement with contemporary art and art making in India!

About the speakers:

Savia Mahajan began her formal artistic training in her home city of Mumbai, at the L.S. Raheja School of Art. Though she trained as a painter, since 201o, Savia’s practice began moving away from the medium of painting, towards ceramics. The transition was the result of a “relinquishing of traditional art mediums (and) a deeper inquiry about practice.” She has since worked extensively at a local pottery studio in Mumbai, which has given her the space to experiment and develop many of her ceramic processes and techniques. These developments in Savia’s practice resulted in Liminal – her first solo exhibition at TARQ in September 2017. This was followed by a landmark group exhibition-Mutable: Ceramics and Clay Art in India Since 1947, curated by Dr. Annapurna Garimella and Sindhura D.M. at the Piramal Art Foundation, Mumbai. Savia has recently been a part of several projects including solo project Resurgō at TARQ’s booth, Art Basel, Hong Kong (2019); and group presentations including Second Edition of The Sculpture Park, The Madhvendra Palace, Nahagarh Fort, Jaipur, curated by Peter Nagy (2018-19) and the Indian Ceramics Triennale, Jaipur (2018). Savia lives in Mumbai and works in a Ceramic studio consisting of a gas kiln which she set up in an Industrial space in Mumbai in 2018.

Michel Casanovas:
Michel Casanovas is a dancer, choreographer and Feldenkrais practitioner. He has studied Ballet and Contemporary Dance. He has worked as a professional dancer in different theatres and companies in France, Belgium and Switzerland. Since 1996 he has been the co-founder, dancer and choreographer of the dance company Morespace, Basel (Switzerland). In 2015 he founded the ONA association in Collioure (South of France). In the dance theatre movement, his solo work “Le Corps Deporte”, has been performed in Switzerland, France, Netherlands and Germany. Since 2006, Michel has been regularly teaching Contemporary Dance, Improvisation and the Feldenkrais method in India. His work has taken him to Bangalore, Mumbai, Kolkata, Delhi and more, where he has also directed research workshops, residencies for artists and worked with children with special needs. His choreographic work reveals a sensitive approach, often poetics of the dance and beyond only the physical aspect. In a constant search for a “true” gesture of expression, of a spontaneous movement between elaborated structure and improvisation, this approach opens a space where the interpreters can express and share their strength, as well as their fragility, in resonance with their hearing.

Est. Form
Oona D’mello:
Born in Mumbai, Oona D’mello’s long-term engagement with art has taken on a multitude of expressions through her experiments with design, décor and social impact via art. Oona formalised her education in art with a Fine Arts degree from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, specialising in painting. Oona made Chicago her home for nearly a decade, taking on roles such as the Art and Gallery Director at The Chicago Mosaic School, in conjunction with events at the Gallery of Contemporary Mosaics. She simultaneously had a number of solo and group shows in Chicago and Ohio, as well as in China and India. The artist presented her experiments with textiles and painting at an exhibition in Venice, Italy. She went on to exhibit her textile-based paintings in Singapore with her show Feeling Resistance, Memory & Practice in September 2019. Oona is the co-founder of Est. Form, a creative collective.  Est. Form: Edition I had a one-day launch with a gallery view on December 14th, 2019, which was also Oona’s first show in Mumbai.

Sohni Patel:
With a degree in Psychology and Business, Sohni followed her passion for art and design to Paris where she worked as a forecast and trend consultant anticipating change and building innovative strategies for fashion, luxury and art. Following a series of immersive courses in art history in Paris and fashion design at Parsons, The New School of Design in New York and the London College of Fashion in London, Sohni found her hands-on training at the ateliers of Nanette Lepore, Marchesa and Duro Olowu in New York. Armed with experience, Sohni returned to Mumbai in 2015, where she founded House of Sōhn — a contemporary women’s label created to tell inspiring stories about women art and culture through the medium of fabric. Sohni’s work stands apart as an intelligent response to the zeitgeist, moving beyond the traditional categories to create new conversations. Sohni is a co-founder of Est. Form, a creative collective, which aims to create opportunities for interdisciplinary artistic exploration and collaboration.