“We leave something of ourselves behind when we leave a place, we stay there, even though we go away. And there are things in us that we can find again only by going back there.”― Pascal Mercier, Night Train to Lisbon
Goa-based artist Sahil Naik’s solo project ‘All Is Water, and to Water We Must Return’, currently on view at Experimenter, Kolkata, is a poignant narrative of the loss of one’s land, inconsolable grief, vivid memories and the intense yearning to return to that home that once existed.
Naik’s long association with the land and people of Curdi, the Goan village that has fallen prey to the rhetoric of development, has inspired him to document the memories of a lost land through the yarns, anecdotes, folktales and history. In his three sets of works, the artist has incorporated different materials and mediums to give voice to his thoughts on the devastating effects of reckless development projects on the environment and human lives, forced migration and displacement.
Sahil Naik received his Master’s Degree in Sculpture from the Faculty of Fine Arts, M.S. University, Baroda and Bachelor’s Degree from Goa College of Art. His works have been showcased at several important venues, including the Delfina Foundation and Asia House, London, UK; Beirut Art Center, Lebanon; Khoj International Artists’ Association and the Serendipity Arts Festival, India; and Aomori Contemporary Art Center, Japan. He has two solo shows to his credit.
Image courtesy of Sahil Ravindra Naik and Experimenter Kol
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