RAVI AGARWAL

Ravi Agarwal has an interdisciplinary practice as an artist, photographer, environmental campaigner, writer, curator.

Bridging the divide between art and activism he addresses the entangled questions of nature and its futures using photography, video, text and installation. His work ranges from the long documentary to the conceptual and performative and he has regularly published photo-books and diaries. His work has been shown widely, including at dOCUMENTA XI, the Biennials of Havana (2019) Yinchuan (2018), Kochi (2016), Sharjah (2013) etc.

For the exhibition, Agarwal is investigating the political history of cocoa cultivation in India as well as its recent economic development, boosted by the demand of British company Cadbury. He is interested in understanding the local knowhow and the alternative model of smaller independent plantations.

Redemption/ Homage (2023), his series of performance and photo-collages, alludes to the metamorphosis of the cocoa seed, from an ecological entity to a symbolic species. Initially revered and held in high regard, the cocoa seed eventually undergoes a transformation into a coveted commodity associated with sensuality and desire.