According to Shankar Tripathi, architecture is not just about creating spaces in which people live; it moulds our sense of belonging, time, and identity. “It remembers us, just as we leave traces on it,” he says. Tripathi is the curator of ‘Architecture as Muse’, a group exhibition currently on view at Delhi’s Sameksha Art Gallery. The exhibition, which runs from December 19 to January 17, includes pieces by seven modern artists that examine how politics, history, and daily life influence architecture.
“Once you stop seeing architecture as static, it completely changes how you think about development, urban planning, and even progress,” Tripathi tells TMS. He goes on to say that architecture influences human lives in the same way that people influence architecture, which makes it extremely political in the current setting, particularly in light of discussions about ecology, the environment, and displacement.
One such work is by artist Shakeel Ahmed. Trained at Delhi's College of Art, and later at MS University in Baroda, Ahmed’s works take inspiration from social realities and current events. His sculptures are often influenced by events unfolding around him, be it the farmers’ movement, or the demolitions in Delhi, and impacts of urbanisation.
Remembrance in stone
Ahmed notes, for him, architecture is a storyteller. “When a house is demolished,” he adds, “it is not just one person’s loss. It is the memory of generations, the life people have lived there.”
In one of his works, Ahmed places a house inside a bulldozer bucket which highlights urban transformation and displacement. In another sculpture, resembling a mud house, he shows the structure being crushed beneath a bulldozer tyre.
On the other hand, artist Vatsya Padia notes that architecture brings back memories for her. Padia, a Baroda-based company, creates two distinct timelines on the same surface by superimposing painted pictures on old photos. Many of her works have been inspired from buildings and everyday spaces in Baroda, and places associated with her childhood.
“Architecture speaks for itself,” Padia says. “Everyone carries different stories of the same place. Even if we haven’t been there, we imagine our own version of it.”
Fragments of memory
Padia adds colour to old photographs — layers of pink, violet, bright blue, and translucent yellow wash over the structures. While the original architectural details remain visible, they hint at evolution, as well as the remnants that continue to linger.
Other artists in the show use a variety of materials and their own visual languages to express architectural ideas. Debojit Roy’s bamboo sculptures recall temporary community structures such as festival pandals, highlighting the cultural significance behind the transient constructions. In contrast, Subhakar Tadi and Mallikarjun Katke use dark, minimal palettes to hint at social unease within the urban landscapes.
According to Tripathi, the exhibition proceeds in a cyclical manner, starting with raw materials, going through conflict and aspiration, and then coming back to the ground (or earth). “No matter how permanent a structure looks, it is also fragile,” he remarks. “Architecture rises from the ground and eventually goes back into it.”