O Maoli!', produced at Khoj Mumbai (2005)

In June 2005 the KHOJ International Artists’ Workshop was held in Mumbai at the Jindal Vijaynagar Steel Ltd, Vasind. Acclaimed international artists came together from Bangladesh, South Korea, Germany, Pakistan, Turkey, Sri Lanka, France, UK, Barbados and South Africa to work alongside prominent Indian artists from from Mumbai, Bangalore, Delhi, Cochin and Kolkatta. The group worked intensively for 2 weeks activating their immediate space and pushing their practices through responding to the physical space. Describing her work in her artist’s statement at Khoj Mumbai, Paula Sengupta states: “O Maoli ¦ is a site-specific art project executed in collaboration with the workers of the Jindal Vijaynagar Steel Ltd., the children of the Jindal Vidya Mandir and rural women and teenagers in Vasind. Cradled by the Western Ghats, the hill, Maoli (meaning "Mother") dominates the horizon at Vasind and is considered sacred by its inhabitants. The ramparts of a medieval fort stand silhouetted atop the hill, halfway up are a Jain and a Hindu temple, and wafting down are tales of tigers prowling its upper reaches. Steeped in mystery, Maoli drew me inexorably " unable to detach myself from her power, I, and the resident community, built a shrine to her. "// O Maoli ¦was executed in a dairy, on an open terrace looking out on to the hill, in the tradition of Buddhist shrines in the high Himalayas. Using materials and means that constitute the greater livelihood of Vasind, six prayer flags were made from steel scrap and erected vertically, silhouetted against the hill. Thereafter, 500 cloth prayer flags were executed and the prayers of the resident women and children serigraphed on them. These were strung horizontally across the terrace like festoons. To complete the shrine, a stupa and a sacred tank were created from fodder troughs. As the weather turned and the skies grew grey, the wind whispered our prayers from Vasind to Maoli, to the high Himalayas, and to the heavens beyond .... Personal prayers, prayers for the needy, for wars to end, and for peace to prevail.”