Falling Fables
2011-2014
Acrylic on canvas
The series of paintings titled ‘Falling Fables’ are based on my photographs documenting various parts of the city of Delhi, where ruins from
the past rub shoulders with present-day structures, revealing the many contradictions and shifting nature of urban landscape. Their surface
consists of numerous addresses of missing monuments listed as protected sites under the Archeological Survey of India, dispersed amidst
fragments of poems/ phrases on architecture and loss. A few years ago, surveys of archeological and historical monuments in India revealed
that a number of monuments had gone missing due to rapid implementation of development projects, haphazard urbanization and inefficient
protection laws. The Archeological Survey of India had listed around 200 sites/objects being lost all over the country. Among these missing
monuments, 35 were listed as protected; of these 12 are in Delhi, where the Archeological Survey is headquartered. I began visiting these
monument sites scattered all over Delhi, some easily accessible while others surrounded by urban housing or amidst congested market
places that are in the process of being lost due to rapid commercialization and construction.
