Illumination - Shubha Taparia
The Averard Hotel, Bayswater, London, 2016
Slate Projects in collaboration with Prahlad Bubbar

Shubha Taparia’s choice of media and materials is grounded in deep inner intelligence – the gold that fills cracks, crevices and losses in the buildings she chooses to ‘restore’, isn’t merely a pigment or tonality for the artist. Her attraction to this element stems from within.

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This installation stages photographs of a ginger factory in Kochi, India within the reception room of a Grade II listed abandoned hotel in London. The walls of the ginger factory have a portentous resemblance to the walls of the reception room, creating an illusion and challenging the viewer to distinguish between real and artificial. The use of gold leaf, which runs through the installation and the photographic prints, takes on an alchemical and transformative meaning that resonates with the derelict spaces of the work. Gold here is not merely physical but a spiritual element, a metaphor for regeneration, birth and light.