Garima Tripathi

Lives and works in Lucknow, India & Seattle, US

Artist statement

Where is a woman’s space to rest, play and grow? Having experienced neglect of women’s health and agency in Indian middle-class homes, I use clay with other materials to create nurturing spaces for women that are inspired by architectural forms in nature. My practice is a search for agency within the systemic realities through the artworks. Psychoanalyst D W Winnicott’s concepts on play and the Buddhist philosophy of interconnectedness underpin my research. My Cave and Niche Series provide retreats for women to rest and grow. Caves were built for and by the community in the slums of Mumbai and at a sculpture park in Denmark. I collaborated with the community to carve ceramic beads. My Niches emerge from weeks of firing in anagama kilns. The laborious process [chopping wood, stoking the fire] and their empty spaces mirror the internal labour of psychoanalysis. “The Plight and Play” series explores feminist ecologies of the Banyan trees that grow throughout India. Instead of growing vertically, they expand horizontally through aerial roots, with a single Banyan tree covering over 3 acres. Their natural architecture presents a model for playful growth and co-existence. I build upon the Indian tradition of using clay architecturally to create such spaces. Pairing the Banyan form in terracotta with domestic objects like mops, doormats, and pan scrubbers juxtaposes domestic labour with the nourishment of connective growth. The Daughter’s Chant series subverts the traditional...

Artwork