Alwar Balasubramaniam

“The work I have created continues my long-term exploration into the nature of the earth.  It is the physical result of the bonding and a separation of earth and water.  These forms emerge from the cracks created as water evaporates from the soil.  The way the land drifts, segments, or becomes isolated serves as a symbol for our own fragmentation — the act of distancing ourselves from the whole or from one another. I don’t see it as a handoff between myself and nature; it is a true collaboration. In one sense, we are a part of nature ourselves, though often divided from it by our own egos.

I plan the work, but I remain open to the flow. I facilitate the depth and the ratio of water to clay, but the earth knows how to move and crack. I am simultaneously a part of the process and a witness to it, a labor of love where self and selflessness merge. The work extends from the front to the other side of the wall. One side features my intentional exploration of ‘drift’ and cracked earth. The other side, however, is a larger terrain that holds the imprints of many beings from our land. During the making of the work, peacocks, monkeys and snakes crossed the threshold and left their imprint on the work in process, serving as a reminder of earth as home - not just for us, but for all living things.”