20/01/2023
Vasudha Kapadia
Lives and works in Surat, India
"I like life a lot" (2022)
Emotions: as shown by WhatsApp (2022)
Synthetic Nature (2021-2022)
Curated by- Shubigi Rao
Vasudha Kapadia's works employ slow drawing processes to work through personal experiences, societal conditions, anxieties, observations, and desires. Conceptually, she excavates and historicises invisibilised, decaying, and discarded material, drawing attention to systems that govern memory and identity and their oppression and control.
Kapadia's work Synthetic Nature explores the world of artificial intelligence, specifically the term CAPTCHA, a test used in computing to ascertain whether a user is human. Initially, text was used as computers needed to be more skilled at reading distorted text. However, with technological advancements, humans can now teach machines to recognise images. 'Synthetic Nature' consists of 48 small-scale drawings that interpret what a 'landscape' can be to redefine the term's meaning. Playing on the idea of meaning-making and highlighting the absurd Nature of the tests, Kapadia presents intentionally confusing images.
The primary function of emojis is to fill in emotional cues otherwise missing from typed conversations. In 'I Like Life a Lot,' Kapadia examines how these icons have gone on to mean a diversity of things in different geographical, social, and political contexts.
Thank you, Ark Foundation for the Arts, Baroda, and Experimenter Generator Co-operative Art Production Fund supporting the artworks.
Displayed now at Coir Godown, Aspinwall House, Fort Kochi.
Until 10th April 2023
