About

Following its presentation at the India Art Fair in February 2025 as a part of the PRAF x IAF Discover 08 grant, Devadeep Gupta's solo 'We must therefore turn our attention skywards' travelled to WH 46, Alserkal Avenue, Dubai during the Alserkal Art Week between 16th - 23rd November, 2025.

Through collaborative, and conversational methodologies, the project investigates how forest-centric oral traditions, and local forms of knowledge nurture balance among humans, more-than-human entities, and their interdependent ecologies. His works highlight the inter-generational resilience of the inhabitants of the land as a form of reparative resistance within sites of ecological collapse, reframing survival as both an aesthetic, and ethical act. The project gathers anecdotal, speculative and documentary traces of Margherita’s transformation from a lush rainforest to an environmental, and public-health crisis. An ad hoc filter assembled from discarded and scrap textile by local communities to extract oil from land that was taken away from them becomes the protagonist, loosely anchoring to it moving and still images from the rainforest alongside sonic residues and field recordings that feature voices that are human, creaturely, botanical and of the elements of the earth. On the mezzanine, a critically fabulated letter describing colonial conditions in Margherita forms a sheer veil across archival and found footage that supports its claims.

Curated by Anushka Rajendran, and presented by Prameya Art Foundation with the kind support of Alserkal Avenue and India Art Fair.

Curatorial Note

Nestled against the northwestern edge of the Dehing Patkai Rainforest, Soraipung village has long been a confluence of animals, nature and humans. In the village’s north, perched against the tree-line, lies a curious pond. On moonlit nights, it’s said that the rainforest’s beasts and birds convene by the pool, drawn to an adjoining brine-spring.  Witnesses describe a striking sight—a transient pledge of peace amongst the beasts as they share the pond’s savoury water.

A decade ago, Bijoy, an indigenous inhabitant of the village picked up a habit of imitating migratory birds. Presently he identifies the calls of over 200 bird-species, and can communicate reciprocally with a dozen species. These days he is engaged in the transmission of his knowledge of migratory birds to his daughter.  

Bijoy’s younger brother, Ajay, is part of a young rebellious squad who habitually rob the Company oil-wells scattered deep in the forest. Ajay, despite being completely aware of the consequences of his plunders, challenges the industrial-complex: “Why should I pay for oil taken from my land? Never.” 

Meanwhile, a rogue elephant tramples 3 miners to death, who, the villagers speculate, resembled the poacher that killed his parents.The lone elephant in the jungle, unwilling to mingle with other herds – ‘Tempu’, named after a popular minivan, remains a mysterious figure, almost a legend within the village communities.

150 years ago, the British discovered coal amidst the Dehing-Patkai rainforest belt. They swiftly set up deep collieries, bridges and railway lines, razing the primeval foliage. When the colonies were abandoned, they left behind their mining infrastructure, in turn, incubating a powerful cartel that has thrived for 75 years, flourishing under the avarice of State apparatus. Currently, the cartel relentlessly razes the ancient wilds, re-enacting the British extractive enterprise.

The complex entanglement between colonial extraction and apathy and neo-colonial circuits that perpetuate ecological ruin of an erstwhile lush region, has entrenched itself into the quotidian experiences and rhythms of human and more than human existences that are the originary inhabitants of the land. Amidst unspeakable tolls on mortality and well-being, there are fleeting instances of reparative escape synthesised into the tangible affects of operative violence that offer themselves to us when we turn our attention skywards, to the congregating birds whose calls will only remain as inheritances from Bijoy if historical oppression of the land and its inhabitants continues into futurity.

Devadeep Gupta’s practice assembles anecdotal and rebellious ruptures in the everyday, circadian meta-cultural actions, and excavations from archives that are active sites which reiterate their agency in the contemporary. In this project, his process lends itself  to portray symbiosis and dialoguing among communities, ecological actors, the petrochemical-industrial-capitalist complex, and transcendent co-existences.

- Text by Anushka Rajendran

Artist Bio

Devadeep Gupta (B.1989, Guwahati, Assam, India) examines the intricate relationships between human and non-human actors, framed within the dynamics of land and ecological crises. His work puts a particular focus on how perseverant ways of life offer vital insights into resilience and repair in response to environmental emergencies. Inspired by orality, vernacular traditions, and archival history, his works highlight the intersection of agrarian routines and industrial arbitration. Exploring colonial accountability, Devadeep’s interest lies in the present-day impact of extractive processes on eco-cultural habitats. He employs film, installation, sound and performative interventions as his artistic medium. He holds an MFA degree from Bauhaus University, Weimar. Currently, he lives and works in Assam.

Gupta’s exhibitions include prominent shows like the 2024 DYSTOPIA Sound Biennale in Berlin, the Critical Zones at Rencontres Internationales, and the Serendipity Arts Festival in Goa. Past exhibitions include Beyond Migration at the Goethe Institute in Kolkata and Unstable State of Things at the Simultan Festival in Timisoara, showcasing his work's international reach and thematic resonance.

Artwork Images