Lost Time of Innocence by Chuguli Kumar Sahoo
Lost Time of Innocence
Sculptures by Chuguli Kumar Sahoo
Preview at Nine Fish Art Gallery
25th April 2025 from 6.30 pm
Exhibition continues till 25th May 2025
A child’s hug frozen in bronze.
Hands stretch skyward like birds in flight.
A girl, deep in conversation with a bird.
Chuguli Kumar Sahoo’s recent works are overwhelmingly focused on the depiction of young children – and more particularly at the naturalness of children at play. The first impression when we see these sculptures is a romantic Wordsworthian response - “My heart leaps up” - seeing the pure joy on these innocent faces. Or is it…look again! Is it the innocence of a child engrossed and complete in her own world of play or is it our adult eyes which seeks the idea of innocence? Is innocence a shield?
Is the leaping of our hearts a seeking of an Edenic return, to a time which can only be imagined? A time lost, as innocence was lost and which we try and recover through notions of naïve nostalgia. Chuguli’s works make us look askance at both innocence and experience. At worlds which we feel are as true as our bones but are also as unutterable as silence.
