Structural Passages Feature Artist Sareena Khemka: Landscapes of loss and belonging I, II, and III

 

Landscape of loss and belonging I

mixed media on paper

72" x 29"

Landscape of loss and belonging I (detail)

Landscape of loss and belonging I (detail)

Landscape of loss and belonging I (detail)

Landscape of loss and belonging I (detail)

Landscape of loss and belonging I (detail)

Landscape of loss and belonging I (detail)

Sareena Khemka, 1983. Kolkata 

Sareena Khemka’s current practice explores urban spaces through the contrasting themes of construction and destruction, as well as preservation and regeneration, within manufactured and organic environments. Working across multiple mediums—drawing, painting, and sculptural installations—she examines the permanence and transience of urban landscapes through material interventions and the ephemeral memories associated with space.

In her series Landscape of Loss and Belonging, the artist delves into the impermanence of familiar places by capturing the deteriorating surfaces of her ancestral home. Through graphite rubbings and organic drawings of decay, her works evoke the pathos of modern landscapes in ruins. Each work forms a fragile yet resilient layer, reminiscent of preserved skin, embodying the tactile experience of touching these crumbling structures. 

As her house faces imminent demolition, these drawings become fragments of a broader, lifelong project—one that will gradually reveal deeply personal memories both tangible and intangible.

Landscape of loss and belonging II

mixed media on paper

20" X 34"

2024

Landscape of loss and belonging 2 (detail)

Landscape of loss and belonging 2 (detail)

Landscape of loss and belonging 2 (detail)

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About

Sareena Khemka is a visual artist working in mixed media drawing, painting and sculpture.  

Her works have been recently exhibited with Exhibit 320 in Art Mumbai, 2024 and in the shows, ‘ Unhoming: fragile belonging ,’ curated by Deeksha Nath, 2024; ‘ Tales of the East: Embers, Echoes & stories of shifting Earth,’ curated by Prayag Chakradhar, 2024; Delhi contemporary art week, Exhibit 320, Bikaner house, 2024; India art fair, Exhibit 320, 2024; ‘ Inscape, ‘ Latitude 28,  Bikaner House, curated by Premjish Achari, 2023 ; ‘Conjunction of Spheres,’ curated by Girish Shahane at the Delhi Contemporary Art Week, Exhibit 320, New Delhi, 2023; India Art fair, Exhibit 320, New Delhi, 2023; And in the show, ‘Virtues of landscape,’ Exhibit 320, New Delhi, 2022 amongst several others. She was also a recipient of the Jaaga Art & Tech fellowship for a public mural art project in Bangalore 2021 and her works have been minted as NFTS in the virtual show, ‘Public Memory,’ by the Upside space, 2022.  

Sareena’s works have been published in arts and literary journals by Subversion Journal on Bangalore Palimpsests, R.V. College of Architecture, Hakara Bilingual, Mumbai, on ‘Dust,’ ‘Intimate Spaces’ by G5A Foundation, Mumbai in their publication on ‘Itinerant, Transfer, Spaces’ and a feature in the Nether Quarterly, Mumbai.  

Khemka holds a B.F.A in painting from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and Kala Bhavan, Santiniketan, India. She has been a resident artist at Space 118, Mumbai several times and The Piramal Art Foundation, Mumbai. 

The artist lives and works from Bangalore and Calcutta.

www.sareenak.com sareenak@gmail.com 

Insta : https://www.instagram.com/sareenakhemka/