12th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art

Praneet Soi lives and works in Amsterdam, NL, and Kolkata, IN

Paraphernalia (2022) includes a group of images painted and drawn on a semicircular standing wall and a coir sculpture of a falling figure. These tropes recur throughout my practice, originating from a growing collection of media imagery, photo shoots in my studio, and immersive travels, all of which comprise an exploration of my social landscape. These motifs evolve over time, sometimes becoming receptacles where new ones may reside. This process ignites a migration of imagery where storytelling is key. The trope of the falling figure derives from photographs depicting the events of 9/11. After noticing that one of the less circulated images showed a falling woman, I took photographs in my studio to recreate this image. It was then translated into a series of drawings that have appeared in various permutations. For this work, one drawing was manually cut into a coir template by artisans in a Kerala coir manufacturer.

Over the course of the last decade, I have also collaborated with artisans in the Kashmiri city of Srinagar to experiment with traditional Islamic motifs painted on papier-mâché tiles. In 2019, I traveled to the occupied West Bank where I visited large factories, small businesses, entrepreneurs, and farmers to understand how they make a living in such a fractured land. Such immersions allow for an understanding of the political complexities that mark these landscapes. The resulting imagery is hybrid, crafted together from a multiplicity of viewpoints that the installation engages in conversation.

Praneet Soi

Exhibitions

Praneet Soi: Migrations, 2021, Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi (IN) (solo)

Centurion – Body Works: Positions 6, 2020, Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven (NL) (solo)

Rupture, 2020, Experimenter, Kolkata (IN)

Anamorphis, 2019, The Mosaic Rooms, London (UK)

Dhaka Art Summit: Into the Blue, 2018, Samdani Art Foundation, Dhaka (BD)