Amol K Patil: Whispers of the DustDe Pont MuseumTilburg, the Netherlands
In autumn 2024, De Pont’s new wing hosted works by the young Indian artist Amol K Patil (b. 1987). Never-before-displayed sculptures, drawings, poetry, audio recordings, and light effects merged to create a theatrical environment. Patil’s work focused on the social situation of labourers and the caste system in his homeland. A style of housing known as chawl, characteristic of the tenement buildings that had housed Mumbai factory workers for generations, appeared repeatedly in his work. Patil drew inspiration from these spaces, in which people from the lower castes had traditionally lived and from which they were being evicted. The textures of the walls, the old household objects, and work clothing served as traces left by people who had remained unseen and unheard. The artist deftly interwove these social themes with his own family history. Patil’s father was an avant-garde playwright and his grandfather was a poet. Their existing works gave rise to new dialogues concerning the identity of the labourer class and the hierarchical politics of caste in India.
Patil took part in documenta 15 in 2022, and in autumn 2023, the Hayward Gallery in London presented his work in the show The Politics of Skin and Movement. He was an artist-in-residence at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam and was slated to participate in the 15th Gwangju Biennale in 2024.
