If there were such athing as aseed hunter, then artist Benitha Percival would qualify as one. Perciyal has often used seeds and grains in her workas both material and metaphor. But to treat tiny seeds as building blocks means long hours of labour, fine handiwork and a good eve- all of which are evident in her newly opened exhibition Aggregate, theartist's first solo show in Mumbai.
The centrepieces of this exhibition are four coracle-like sculptures that hang on the walls of Galerie Mirchandani +Steinruecke. It's impossible not to be spell- bound, especially by aworktitled We Shall Meet Again. It's 5ft in diameter,with apapier-mâchébase. The sculpture is almost hypnotic, making viewers feel they are either staring at a crevice belowor the sky above. Level land has been left far behind. Hundreds of seeds from the Indian Elmand theTecoma stud the sculpture's concave surface, meticulously arranged tolook like rivers streaming from asinglesource at the centre."They are all winged seeds, meant t odisperseand settle in different places. In my neighbourhood, you can't find these trees' siblings despite the number of seeds that fall there," says Perciyal,adding, "Seeds look different when seen individually and when seen as a pile."