60 x 90 in / 152.4 x 228.6 cm
Thermal Aluminum Foil
About the artwork
The series is narrated from the perspective of Laika, the first dog in space. While it's believed that she either perished or was lost, the artist imagines her as still alive, observing human civilization. Letters from Laika capture moments of destruction caused by humans.
This installation features a fallen tree cast in thermal aluminum foil, found at one of the construction sites from his surroundings. The artist developed the Letters from Laika series from the question: How will we capture the human history of our time? This led to a subsequent inquiry of the forms and objects of museums in the future. In envisioning an alternative museum, Supriyo began capturing moments and activities that often go unnoticed but hold significant importance for our time.
About the artist
Supriyo Manna's (b. 1993, Kolkata) practice is informed by the flux in different geographical, psychological and philosophical spaces. He completed MFA in Painting from Visva Bharati University , Santiniketan in 2017 and a BFA from the Rabindra Bharati University, Kolkata in 2015. Currently beside his artistic practice, he is also a guest lecturer at College of Fine art- CKP, Bengaluru, India.
As an artist and pedagogue, he is constantly mobilizing across different spaces and occupations. This mobility provides him with the different experiences of sites that he has been working with. There is an effort to mummify the land, an experience or a phenomenon in his works. His process involves the native knowledge system, derived from various history, body and memory. Supriyo is deeply interested in the fields like botany, anthropology, museology, architecture and urban planning.
His artworks have been displayed at SD Ahuja Museum for Arts in Kolkata, the Students Biennale 2016 in Kochi, Shrishti Art Gallery in Hyderabad, Kalakriti Art Gallery in Hyderabad, and at the Art Ichol in Madhya Pradesh among others. In addition to his exhibitions, Supriyo has been the recipient of several prestigious awards and fellowships. He was awarded the Space Studio Baroda Fellowship (2022-2023), Alternative Art School Fellowship in the USA (2022), Lalitkala Akademi Research Fellowship (2017-2018) and the Scholarship for Young Artists by the Ministry of Culture, India in 2016.
Currently he is based out of Kochi, India.
