Sonal Jain works at the intersections of art, ecology, technology, and activism. Her multidisciplinary practice spans film, video, photography, social practice, curation, natural farming, digital media, and public interventions. Co-founder of Desire Machine Collective and Periferry, her work crafts immersive environments through atmospheric imagery, deconstructed visuals, and soundscapes – opening up an associative and contemplative experiential space.
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n this conversation, we weave through the vast waterways of Northeast India and its complex politics, arriving at the poetic, more-than-human waterworlds of Meghalaya. Jain traces interconnected routes – from the Brahmaputra River and Periferry, a hybrid art and research space set on an anchored ferry, to ‘Inner Lines’, a project that explores river sovereignty in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, and the rights of rivers to flow freely. She also guides us through ‘deSchool: Alternative Worldviews Northeast India’, a socially engaged initiative focused on decolonial learning and community-based knowledge, that Jain has been part of, curated by the Heinrich Böll Stiftung, India.
Culminating with ‘Puri’ – the local name for water spirits and Jain’s recent artist’s book – has its roots in the forests and waterbodies of the Khasi hills, the artist’s home. Filled with myths, folktales, and elusive beings, ‘we enter not only realms that extend beyond the human, but also navigate the complex historical layers that have shaped the region, ranging from British colonial water governance to Indigenous ecological frameworks and gendered mythologies.’ – (Ritika Biswas). Evolving from conversations, research, and itinerant practices, Jain explores what shape-shifting and deep listening mean for those who can still hear the hills, mountains, valleys, rivers, forests, and springs. Our relationship with the planet is fractured, yet her murmurs and whispers remain – if only we pause to listen. Elusive beings of the natural world watch us, and in that act of seeing, transform who we are.
Sonal Jain is an artist and the co-founder of Desire Machine Collective (2004) and Periferry, a hybrid laboratory situated on a ferry on the Brahmaputra River in Guwahati, which brought together artistic, scientific, and technological practices and was nominated for the Visible Award in 2015. Her current projects include socially engaged art initiatives in Northeast India and Uttarakhand, where she is also developing a regenerative farm grounded in permaculture, natural building, and mindfulness practices. She has taught at premier Indian institutions such as the National Institute of Design and Srishti Manipal Institute.
Her work – known for its atmospheric visual language and experiential depth – has been exhibited at leading international institutions, including the New Museum (New York), Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (New York and Berlin), MAXXI (Rome), Palais de Tokyo (Paris), MAC Lyon, British Museum (London), and the Venice and Shanghai Biennales. Her works are held in public collections such as the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi.
Respondent: Amrita Gupta (Art Historian and Co-director, CASP).
July 4th, 2025 | 6.00 pm – 7.30 pm on Zoom | Open to all.
