NEHA CHOKSI ON CAPTURING THE SKY AND THAT SINKING FEELING

It’s a conundrum that many children (and artists too) have faced at some point: how do you capture the sky? You can paint it, photograph it, film it, even write poetry about it, as many have done through the years, but there remains something ephemeral about our attempts to represent that which is never the same one moment to the next. Neha Choksi’s attempt, using blueprint paper, lets the sky dictate the pattern; folded paper is exposed to sunlight to capture gradient changes in shade and smudges (you can spy Choksi’s fingerprints in places). The results, called “Sky Fold”, are abstract wonders, on display as part of her third solo show Iceboat and Sky Foldat Project 88. The second component of her show is a video “Iceboat”, the final part in a trilogy of films, where Choksi rows a boat made of ice into the middle of Pawna lake under the blazing sun. We interviewed the artist via email about melting boats, capturing the sky and coming up with her decidedly Bond-esque titles.