AFTERLIFE at Options
Options, Ahmedabad is hosting AFTERLIFE, which includes pieces by WEICO and curator Sahir Patel who debuted his furniture line, Van. The exhibition will run from 17th January to 24th January 2025. The design is a product of an 8-month-long art residency for artists WEICO, Peter Veiko and Ksenia Evsina – supported by Anahita Brahmbhatt and Sahir Patel.
AFTERLIFE is a contemporary inquiry into the aftermath of fallen trees. The work expresses trees’ innate grandeur through textures, art, sculpture and of course furniture. Van emerges from a profound exploration of nature’s complex layers. This collection reflects Sahir Patel’s introspective approach, where each piece is a translation of his nuanced relationship with the natural world into tangible mediums of philosophical inquiries.
Phantasmic Journeys by Sahir Patel and Anahita Brahmbhatt
In the liminal space between destruction and creation, AFTERLIFE explores the transformative narrative of fallen trees – their metamorphosis from living organisms to vessels of artistic expression. The exhibition excavates the infinite interior landscapes dormant within the timber, revealing the profound dialogue between natural decay and human intervention.
Each piece in the exhibition emerges from a process of radical transformation – cutting, chopping, cleaving, hacking, and carving – unveiling latent potentials, transcending material, and becoming portals to primordial memories and cosmic narratives. Galaxy patterns emerge from wood grain, suggesting intricate connections between organic matter and celestial structures. The aesthetic language draws deeply from tribal art traditions, presenting raw yet sophisticated explorations of form, texture, and materiality.
The sculptures and furniture pieces presented are not representations but living embodiments of the continuous cycle of regeneration and meaning-making. The assembled works invite viewers into a meditative space where material and process become dynamic media of meaning-making. They speak to the paradoxical nature of transformation – how destruction births profound beauty, and how every ending conceals the seeds of extraordinary beginnings.
Hence, AFTERLIFE is a profound meditation on impermanence, revealing the hidden worlds vibrating within the seemingly ordinary.
WEICO’s Peter Veiko and Ksenia Evsina on AFTERLIFE
Peter Veiko and Ksenia Evsina produced their pieces in a creative residency in Ahmedabad. During their time, they created artworks and furniture through a long-term and painstaking process.
The project took root when the artists first arrived in India three years ago. Falling in love with the country, they decided to stay here indefinitely. Their first year passed in nostalgia and reminiscence. A year later, in Goa, their first Indian collection came to light. Created literally on their knees from pieces of old boats and scraps of abandoned buildings, with a minimal set of tools. This collection soon headed towards Ahmedabad, embarking on a new phase of WEIRCO’s creative journey.
The process of searching for materials and manual labour is fundamental for Peter Veiko and Ksenia Evsina and has become art itself. This process generates ideas within them; who act first and then reflect. The beauty of their pieces lies in imperfection. They’ve mainly used reclaimed wood, elements from old structures, and trunks of fallen trees that have naturally completed their life cycle. Such materials often possess some flaws, traces of past life, cracks, knots, paint residues, and nail holes. This gives them creative ownership of reimagining the material’s past lives. By giving them new life and purpose, they preserve that history.
Exposing and emphasizing imperfections makesWEICO’s artworks truly unique and filled with soul.
About Peter Veiko and Ksenia Evsina
Weico, Peter and Ksenia are artists from St. Petersburg, Russia. In 2020, they began their project with a series of wooden wall panels. Today, they describe themselves as object designers and sculptors. Their primary medium is wood. Additionally, they love to experiment with other materials like metal, stone and fabric.
About Sahir Patel and Anahita Brahmbhatt
Sahir Patel and Anahita Brahmbhatt are multidisciplinary practitioners trained as architects. Sahir is also the principal of landscape architecture and ecological design practice in Ahmedabad called Metabolic Office. Anahita is a real estate developer by profession, an architect by academia and a curator by passion, she balances her time between reality and imagination through her work.
Image Courtesy – Jay Prajapati
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