She was born in the United States, raised in India, and formally educated in the Fine Arts and Indo-European philology at UCLA and Columbia University. She lives and works in Mumbai and Los Angeles. This mixed upbringing brings with it issues of exile and relocation, a sort o identity crisis, where identity can be defined both positively and negatively.
There is nothing ordinary about her journey as it is not the usual journey with a fixed starting and destination point. Through her own experience, Neha Choksi wishes to enlighten the viewers about the ephemeral nature of life itself. We are so preoccupied and caught up with our materialistic lives that we have actually forgotten the true state of our being.
It’s interesting to understand why Choksi uses an ice-made boat for her journey. ‘Ice’ itself stands for transience and it won’t last long. It will melt and so will the clothes along with it. In the end, that which will remain is the body. So, through her video performance, the artist unveils the revelatory meaning behind life and its journey.
Neha Choksi, Iceboat, 2013, HD video, color, stereo sound, 13 mins
Neha Choksi's poetic oeuvre presents a materially bound search for, and acceptance of, various forms of absences - absenting and emptying. Her art takes matter apart in substance and form, in metaphor and media. She often makes tragicomic, even absurd, interventions in the life of a plant, an animal, or her own, and in so doing trespasses on the vulnerability, intimacy and isolation that is experienced.
Similarly, for Neha Choksi, the value of ‘presence’ can only be understood through its absence, erasure and negation. Choksi adopts the idea of erasure through her knowledge of the Jain philosophy that preaches the practice of anti-materialistic desires. The idea of absence is suggestive of the religious notion of renunciation. Neha Choksi’s video installation “Leaf Fall” can be approached through a practice of Jain monks of pulling out hair from one’s head one by one. Thus, even in its decay, the tree attains renewal.
Neha Choksi, Leaf fall (still), single-channel HD Digital video projection, 14:14 mins(looped)
“I wanted to put myself into the category of animals.” Neha Choksi’s desire of experiencing and living an unconscious state of being along with those of the animals seems hilarious on the surface level, but it is an act that she displays for her viewers to feel encouraged to come forward to help. Neha Choksi validates her philosophy of life through experiments which she very courageously undertakes. The act of unconsciousness gives freedom to the mind and body and allows a temporary respite from the mundane and materialistic life.
Neha Choksi, Minds to Lose (film), 2011, single channel video installation, HD, color, widescreen, sound, 11 min 54 sec.
For Neha Choksi, her poetic oeuvre presents a materially bound search for, and acceptance of, various forms of absences - absenting and emptying.She works with a huge range of materials.Whether sculpture, video, photography or performance, her art takes matter apart in substance and form, in metaphor and media. She often makes tragicomic, even absurd, interventions in the life of a plant, an animal, or her own, and in so doing trespasses on the vulnerability, intimacy and isolation that is experienced.
Neha Choksi
Neha Choksi deliberately creates the element of mystery so that the viewers can create multiple meanings out of the experience of ‘nothingness’ and ‘absence’ that she portrays in her works. The artist’s fondness for Greek Classical texts such as those of Sappho and others helped her to imbibe the notion of incompleteness which also reflects in her works. Her attempt to offer a dubious and ambiguous image is an act to make the viewer complete the very incompleteness of her work through the gesture of meaning making.
Neha Choksi, I can’t drop off, yellow cotton mattress, single clear vase, white flowers, and time, life-size
