Vyom Ketan Mehta

About the Actant

Vyom's work evokes a diverse world of non-human presences, beings in continuing flux; through play and discovery, and shifts of power – in being, constant. Vyom carries the germs of his early apprenticeship with Lynda Bengalis in America in as much as his more recent work with the potters of Mandla, Madhya Pradesh and Molela, Rajasthan as part of a livelihoods programme administered by the Asian Heritage Foundation. Most recently, his work was seen at Kasturbhai Lalbhai Museum of Art and his solo exhibition 'creature constant' at 079 stories.

Water within the sub-continent has a strong cultural significance. We offer people water as a welcoming gesture and not drinking from someones house is considered rude. It extends further, upper castes do not drink water from a lower caste's home or different containers are used depending upon where someone stands in the social hierarchy. For Vyom, water becomes the simplest tool to initiate a dialogue about the India-Pakistan othering. The project is an attempt to go to Lahore, just 50km away from Amritsar, and bring back some water. Vyom wants to spend some time in Lahore, get invited to peoples homes and collect water from each one. When brought back to India, this water will be bottled with a map of the journey the water has made. This bottled water would be offered to visitors to drink at Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan.