How artist Ravikumar Kashi transforms paper into a vessel of memory

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Waves of white caught the eye as soon as you entered Gallery Threshold in Delhi. Undulating sheets hang suspended from the ceiling.

As you went closer to the work from the series, We Don’t End At Our Edges, letters from the Kannada script became apparent, etched onto the very skin of the paper. The pores in the sheets cast shadows on the gallery walls and floor—the etched words thereby acquiring a new reflected form. Crafted with cotton rag fibre pulp, the paper has become a metaphor for the body as a vessel of memory and history.

In artist Ravikumar Kashi’s hands, paper becomes more than just a surface or a medium. It takes on sculptural and tactile forms, containing within it themes around loss of language, heritage, of people and time. We Don’t End At Our Edges formed a part of the recently-concluded solo, Shadows of Breath, in which paper “is a material that is both fragile and resilient, recording presences and absences… .

The title referred to the fleeting, subtle marks, the shadows, left by the internal rhythms of life, the breath," states the catalogue essay. The works on display evoked stories, silences, conversations and friendships. It showcased how over the last decade, paper has become central to the Bengaluru-based artist’s practice.

Over time, he has challenged the fragility and passivity associated with paper through his sculptures and artist books. Here, paper is not an inert vessel for text, but is the text itself. Kashi will be showing another large-scale installation, Holding Pattern, at the Bangalore International Centre as part of the BLR Kala Hubba from 16-25 January 2026.