Kartik Sood: "In Thin Air"
Talwar Gallery, New Delhi

On the innermost wall in the dim basement of New Delhi’s Talwar Gallery, an image flickered to life. A red-robed woman, visage indiscernible, began moving slowly to a mournful thrum, the torpid choreography seemingly prolonging time. A lion, black-garbed dancers, minuscule men with suitcases, and a body floating on water eventually appeared on the same screen in staccato, animated sequences. Abstruse yet mesmerizing, the video Life is fluid (2021) has the air of a séance, with phantom characters being “summoned” in the dark, inviting immersion rather than interpretation.