The Sindhu Project
The Sindhu Project embodies responses of artists Gunjan Kumar and Mahwish Chishty to explorations of archeological sites and artifacts in the expansive Sindhu (Indus) watershed, a geographical region stretching across northwest India and much of Pakistan. Through parallel journeys involving familial roots and enigmas of inhabited places across time, Kumar and Chishti bring contemporary art-making into dialogue with excavated forms that contribute to imagining this ancient riverine landscape. Gunjan's work in this project references archeological sites and artifacts associated with Harappan or Indus Valley Civilization, the earliest known urban civilization of the Indian subcontinent that flourished in the Sindhu watershed from approximately 3000 BCE until 1800 BCE. Her nine series of works respond to visits to the Indus Valley Civilization sites of Dholavira, Gujarat and Sanghol, Punjab in India, include three-dimensional compositions, sculptures and works on paper. These mixed media works reference textures, colors, and materials associated with the Harappan sites and use riverbed soil and terra-cotta - powdered for pigment and mixed with water for molding, along with muslin, turmeric, and mulberry paper. They investigate the Harappan sites for their grid layout, artifacts, and undeciphered script while journeying from surface traces to subterranean roots, charting a course from perceptible to imperceptible.
The two- person exhibit that stemmed out of this project, debuted at the South Asia Institute in Chicago in June 2021, follow by Zahoor-Ul- Akhlaq Gallery, National College of Arts, Lahore, Pakistan, November 2021. The third and last iteration of this project was showcased in an exhibition in Delhi in April 2022. Education and dialogue has been an important component of the Sindhu Project since it was conceived. The project has had an ongoing public programming with institutional collaborations engaging with scholastic, academic, and mass audiences via symposiums, artist talks, museum tours, workshops etc. with an aim to create an ongoing narrative on the subject of common roots and robust cross border cultures.
Press www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEbZWIgMpmE&… for a walk through of the Sindhu Project exhibit,Delhi
Press my.matterport.com/show/?m=D8QznvatRbY to access the 3 D mapping of the Sindhu Project, Delhi
