For Patiala-based artist Kulpreet Singh, the process takes precedence over the outcome. In an ongoing series of performances turned drawings, films and installations, entitled Indelible Black Marks, he reflects materially and conceptually on the permanent black marks systematically inscribed onto our ecosystem. Extending from the histories of land and environmental art, Singh emphasizes farming and farmlands in the aftermath of the Green Revolution. His works echo the main occupation of his home state of Punjab, a significant contributor to India’s agricultural produce. Beginning at the onset of the farmers' movement in 2020-2021, this series of work has evolved into a reflection on the scars that our lands will bear forever as humans continue to impact its well-being.
Drawing from his training in printmaking, Singh’s practice of mark-making began with the work Indelible Black Marks I which artistically responded to the acts of stone-pelting and baton charge within the farmers’ movement. Conceptualized as a social commentary, the work went on to educate the youth about the negative impacts of violence on the movement’s larger cause. In Indelible Black Marks II, he staged a large-scale performance by repurposing the annual stubble-burning ritual, traditionally used by farmers to remove the residual weeds and pests from farmlands in India [1]. Inviting his friends and peers, he orchestrated a day-long engagement of dragging massive canvases across the burning fields. The idea was to capture the residues of the land on canvases as it is prepared for another harvest cycle. Scale plays a prominent role in Kulpreet Singh’s practice. He notes - “Unless I show things in scale, one won't be able to fathom the gravity of the shifts happening all around us. For me, it is ideal to make these realities visible, on the land that gives us food.”
At a broader level, the burning farmland becomes a microcosm to reflect on the changing conditions of the planet today. The very act of moving amid the stubble for Singh is the closest to experiencing the threshold of temperatures that the world will be soon crossing. The improvised approach of walking on the fields takes on a more defined performative direction in Indelible Black Marks III where the burning is guided to make specific forms – circles, words, birds, and trees that directly speak to the loss of biodiversity. When asked how the burning of crop residue can be a call to action, Singh speaks of how blackened fields are metaphors for what is happening below the ground, the enormity of chemicals, and toxins that industries induce into the underbellies of the ecosystem only to be unearthed as diseases in the future.
From an art historical perspective, Singh's transformation of the farm into a canvas aligns with the iconic land art moments of the 1970s led by visionary artists such as Nancy Holt, and Robert Smithson. His particular emphasis on aerial vision to experience his works resonates with Smithson’s Spiral Jetty (1970), an earth sculpture created to transform with its surrounding conditions of water, land, and atmosphere. Unlike Spiral Jetty which allowed for a long-term conversation with its immediate environment, Singh's performances extend across a diversity of locations in Punjab dependent upon the harvest cycles of the region. They also move beyond the framework of land art by integrating space, performance, film and community to configure a new form of artistic engagement. These repeated actions that map indelible black marks, bring to the fore multiple conversations around land and biodiversity, making us aware of the contrast between projections and realities on the ground.
Srinivas Aditya Mopidevi
New Delhi, 2024
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[1] As someone who was raised amid farmlands, Singh elaborates that the farmers have been compelled to burn the fields as it is their only affordable option to prepare the ground immediately for the next crop cycle.