Rithika Merchant's 'The Dreaming Realm' Opens In Paris
Merchant's latest body of work features hybrid creatures and surreal scenes that evoke ancient mythology and mysticism. These tableaus depict mythological beings interacting with plants and animals in dream-like settings, accompanied by elements such as insects, stars, metaphysical tendrils, and all-seeing eyes, often on human bodies with raptor heads. The artist's distinctive, symmetrical compositions suggest esoteric rituals or spiritual connections with the natural world, forming speculative, fable-like narratives that touch on collective anxieties about the environment and hopes for healing.
The gallery noted that Merchant incorporates“theoretical, historical, and iconographic references, drawing notably on the notion of empirical experience based on sensory perception, the Greek concept of Kairos to question the subjectivity of time, as well as research on the Beguines of the Middle Ages.” The Beguines were a distinct lay community of financially independent Christian women who occasionally engaged in mysticism, with some communities still active in Western Europe today. In“The Dreaming Realm,” Merchant utilizes symbols of consciousness and transformation, such as the luna moth, which signifies intuition and transitions, and ravens, which represent wisdom, foresight, and a link to other realms. Communality is a central theme in Merchant's art, particularly in her ongoing series“Interspecies Care,” which, according to the gallery, focuses“on social organization, interdependence, reciprocity between species, and knowledge sharing.”
Source: This Is Colossal
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