Delhi based artist, Sukanya Garg explores the human body’s intricacies, particularly the perceptions that stem from the constant evolution of cell structures. Garg’s practice is inspired by her unprecedented journey across the world to understand pain and the diverse practices of healing, unravelling traditional wisdom from Hinduism, Islam, Sufism, Animism, Shamanism and the Amazonian tribal cultures. Her art centres around the concept of ‘Every scar has a Story’ to narrate stories and experiences of scarless wounds, alchemizing them through the visual language of cellular biology. Art for her, then, is a journey into exploring the question she once asked herself:
Every scar has a story
The ones the skin doesn’t show
from stories yet untold
whispered to no one
but myself
in moments
all alone
What of the stories of scarless wounds?
In the past few years, Garg developed an artistic language that explores life’s fragility and resilience whilst taking us on a simultaneous path into the body’s interiority and the cosmos of the universe. Her practice explores the underlying layers of one’s being digging deep to unravel the mysteries of identity, perception, reality, and dreams. Understanding how the human perception of these revelations is influenced by an individual’s intrinsic attributes and his or her constantly changing external environment is what lies at the core of her work. For Garg, art is a medium of instilling hope in a turbulent time, such as the one we inhabit today.
A graduate of Public Policy from Duke University, Sukanya Garg’s artistic practice was developed with the guidance of artist Shobha Broota. A trained economist who became an artist, writer, curator and a poet, Garg’s works have been shown in the Lumbini World Peace Exhibition, Taragaon Museum, Kathmandu (2017); Annual All India Fine Arts Exhibition, Academy of Fine Arts, Kolkata (2018-19); Sign Here, Under the Mango Tree Art Space, Berlin (2018); Sign Here, Galera, Užupio Meno Inkubatorius, Vilnius, Lithuania (2018); Terrain Offline, Centre for Contemporary Art, Bikaner House (2021) among others. She was the recipient of the Ravi Jain Memorial Annual Fellowship Award 2021 by Dhoomimal Gallery. Her writings have appeared in several art magazines, journals, and as part of curatorial notes and catalogues. Formerly a writer for STIRworld Magazine, Garg currently curates exhibitions and art programs with the upcoming Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre in Mumbai.
