Botanical Cosmo Bengaluru
Asialink Artist Residency program at 1ShanthiRoad Studio Gallery
Man & Wah spent two months in Bengaluru, India - based at 1ShanthiRoad Studio Gallery; a prominent space within the Bangalore and international arts community developing new botanical inspired works. They researched Bangalore’s rich garden history, looking at the city’s remaining green spaces and its renowned flower market, exploring the rapid urban developments and recent tech industry boom. Once labeled as the City of Thousand Lakes and the Garden City, the modernisation of this vibrant city feels like its leaving behind its green roots.
The result of the residency was a solo exhibition titled Botanical Cosmos Bengaluru, a series of photographs, videos, text and floral installation that bridges the gap between the everyday, wider cosmos and mysteries of the universe which we all are a part of. It aims to create an experience within a space that encourages people to slow down and pause, for deeper reflection and contemplate of our own relationship with nature amidst times of rapid modern developments.
(Left) Zingiber spectabile (Beehive Ginger) and (right) a Bauhinia purpurea (Purple Butterfly Tree). Below the prints is the actual flowers, dried and wilted after it has been photographed; providing contextual correlation between the plant and the large photographic prints of the flowers.
(Above) Screen shots from the video work titled Botanical Cosmos Bengaluru.
Floral mandala installation in front of the video projection work; representing the cycle of life and the earth’s cosmic rotation. The mandala was created from 12kgs of yellow & orange marigold flowers purchased at Krishna Rajendra Market, one of the largest flower market in Asia.
'Language is an old-growth forest of the mind.' - Wade Davis
This is an Asialink Arts Residency Project supported by the Queensland Government through Arts Queensland