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Temsuyanger Longkumer

Travelling Forests I, 2024

Oliver Projects

Ceramics, Sculpture

10 x 21

Terracotta

undisclosed

Temsüyanger Longkumer is a multimedia artist whose artistic practice spans video, sculpture, site-specific installation, printmaking and painting. Profoundly influenced by his upbringing in Nagaland, Northeast India, his work explores - in his words - ‘the socio-cultural traditions in ethnic societies, and the correlation between communities in the microbial world and our own.’

Temsüyanger’s practice shows his deep connection to the natural world and those whose live within it - whether in harmony or conflict. There is also a strong sense of mysticism and magic running through his imagery, informed by the songs and stories featuring ‘witches, elves, hairy forest monsters and friendly ghosts’ recalled from his childhood.

This is one of a group of new terracotta sculptures which have been made for our March 2014 exhibition ‘Drop Shadows’ held at Sims Reed Gallery. Pairs of feet are a recurring motif in this set, symbolising travel and a sense of place. Here, gentle petals unfold within the hollow legs in contrast to their spiked exterior, suggesting both danger and protection. The artist says: ‘this work draws inspiration from the migration patterns of humans and plants, symbolizing the journey of ecosystems across varied landscapes.’

Temsüyanger’s work has been exhibited internationally at renowned institutions including the Museum der Kulturn, Basel, Switzerland and the Pitts Rivers Museum, Oxford. He was also selected to show at the Kochi-Murizis Biennale, India in 2019 and the the Singapore Biennale in 2020. His work was the subject of a solo exhibition at Standpoint Gallery, London, in 2018, and he exhibited in the Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition (2022). Temsüyanger’s work is held in the permanent collection of the Horniman Museum, London. Most recently, his multimedia installation ‘home’ was exhibited at the Venice International Film Festival (August 2023). He lives and works in east London.

Our Conspiring Hosts: Of Rivers, Vines, and Microbes, curated by Adwait Singh.

Featuring the works of Bhimanshu Pandel, Devadeep Gupta, Garima Gupta, Imaad Majeed, Karan Shrestha, Maksud Ali Mondal, Paribartana Mohanty, Salman Bashir, Sonia Mehra Chawla, and Temsuyanger Longkumer, the exhibition focuses on the complex and dynamic relationship between humans and the environment, posing questions like How would our environmental awareness shift when we can no longer rely on notions of familiarity and nurture in our framings of ‘nature’? What kind of relationality and ethics come up with in the face of a hostile host? Can horror be used to expand our comprehension of causality, enabling better responses to catastrophe as well as processing of environmental existentialism?

Programme:
Opening: Thursday, 28 March 2024 | 6:00 pm
The exhibition is on view from 28 March–08 April 2024.
Bikaner House, New Delhi

Our next exhibition, Drop Shadows, opens to the public on 1st March. Presented in collaboration with Sims Reed Gallery, the show - which will be our first exhibition in central London - will bring together new work by Katherine Jones RA and Temsuyanger Longkumer.

Drop Shadows will explore the delicate — and often deceptive - minutia of the natural world through painting, printmaking and sculpture. This will be the first exhibition to present a substantial body of paintings by Katherine, who is renowned as a printmaker. These unique works will be shown in dialogue with a new series of terracotta sculptures by Temsuyanger, created especially for the exhibition.

Drop Shadows will be open at Sims Reed Gallery, 43 Duke Street St. James', London, from 1st - 14th March 2024. To receive a digital catalogue in advance of the exhibition opening, please contact us.

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