Sacred Scapes

In Ladakh, brick once meant comfort and home. Now it carries the weight of loss and transition—of glaciers melting into unexpected greenery, of rituals fading into memory.

Artist

Urgain Zawa (Maharaja Sayajirao University, Baroda)

Medium

Installation

Venue

Vallabhdas Kanji Limited (VKL) Warehouse, Mattancherry, Fort Kochi, Kerala

Timings

10AM to 6PM (Mon to Sunday)

Till March 31st, 2026

About

In 'Sacred Scapes,' Urgain Zawa looks critically at brick as a material and its relationship with the idea of home. He traces this connection through architecture, ecology, culture, and landscape.

Bricks form the base of expansive urbanisation and the shift towards it, yet in this work, the artist overturns this association into a symbol of frail and fragile landscapes. He dissects the contemporary tendency to link home with the idea of comfort and care architecturally where brick is the primary construction material. He then posits it against the understanding of fragile ecosystems as home in local communities, and the impact of brick as a material on it.

Coming from Ladakh, a place known for its sustainable practices and deep rooted ecological wisdom, this work addresses the fact that the region is facing the brunt of the climate crisis. Brick, according to the Urgain, carries 'the weight of this loss and transition.' The unprecedented transformations are causing increasing environmental disasters, cultural shifts, and unexpected greenery in a white desert by melting glaciers. The chiseled marks on the brick blocks represent undulating contours of Ladakh. These markings become an allegory for the growing anthropocentrism shaping the region.

The suspended paper-mache horns recall a remembered ritual to ward off evil and disasters from one's home and brings the work to a poignant close—linking past practices, present anxieties, and an uncertain ecological future with subtle, resonant clarity.

Kochi Biennale 2025