Immersion #37, Sand, cement, glass, 12 x 18 x 36 in, 2005

I was not waving or drowning, Archival pigment print; 12 x 18 in; Ed. 1/5, 2006

I was not waving or drowning, Archival pigment print; 12 x 18 in; Ed. 1/5, 2006

I was not waving or drowning , Archival pigment print; 12 x 18 in; Ed. 1/5, 2006

I was not waving or drowning, Archival pigment print; 12 x 18 in; Ed. 1/5, 2006

I was not waving or drowning, Archival pigment print; 12 x 18 in; Ed. 1/5, 2006

Atul Bhalla lives and works in the city of New Delhi, India.  Engaged with the shared environmental and ethical concerns of a new generation, he examines India's unfolding path towards its relationship to water and its cultural meaning.  In "Immersion," Bhalla uses sand taken directly from the increasingly polluted Yamuna river to make concrete casts of portable water containers.  These casts are then placed in water-filled vitrines, drawing a connection between Delhi's historical source for water and the disposable containers of today, now absent of any spiritual connection.  Similarly, in his photographic works of "piaus" (water spigots)—a public source of drinking water—Bhalla examines water as both symbol and source for renewal and reexamination.