“I worked on the notion of how a city is continually transforming, changing its subjects as well itself and vice versa. Some find it a deep and obvious transition, some deal with it, some struggle, some give up, and some rise above the others. It seemed impossible for me to draw a line between those who change and those who change the city in the process.” - Sachin Geoorge Sebastian
The city and its mysterious power on the lives of individuals is the idea at the crux of Sachin’s explorations in his solo Sites of Metamorphosis. The city takes residence within individuals who constitute it, permeating their bodies with its own materiality which the individuals carry forward into the future even moving outside the city’s boundaries. Thus when we speak of transformation and change we trace it to multiple sites located within and outside the members who make the city. About this body of works Sachin explains, “I worked on the notion of how a city is continually transforming, changing its subjects as well itself and vice versa. Some find it a deep and obvious transition, some deal with it, some struggle, some give up, and some rise above the others. It seemed impossible for me to draw a line between those who change and those who change the city in the process.”
For long Sachin has been engrossed with the city – the metropolis in particular like the one he lives in - engaging with it as a canvas where varied lives meet, clash and intermingle. In his new works the city makes itself his central subject once again but now he moves beyond a purely formal enagement and explores the emotional and psychological aspects of urban lives. He traces transformations in the city, its structure and fabric, on the one hand by engaging directly with the recognisable landscape of concrete buildings, telephone towers, entangled wires and architectural element, and on the other hand developing a new body of works which explore the experiential aspects of urban existence. There is a strong meditative quality to Sachin’s practice that one can experience in the new series of works; a pause and a deep breath before one immerses themselves in the noise of the city.
