Srikala Gangi Reddy

Srikala's works are about a journey, mute testimony of the objects used by the constructions workers, displaced from their farmlands to the city in search of work. This is also her journey, transitioning from a different field to being an artist, building a dialogue with herself exploring and experimenting with different materials. In her recent series, she used objects from the construction site, a silent reminder of the hand that have wielded them. For her, the exploration began as a narrative of people relocating from rural to urban, urban to rural, and the shifts in loyalty, ambition, and family that occur owing to this movement. But when the pandemic hit, she saw a shift in focus. Abandoned buildings, half-constructed sites, objects in their state of disuse, the frustration of workers without a livelihood. She saw women taking on additional and multiple roles overnight and it is that resilience and transformation that she wanted to capture through her series. It was the transformation of a humble object once it was no longer in use, the woman taking on many roles and that of an artist as she experienced changes in her own life.