Samar Jodha

How did your installation, Bhopal, A Silent Picture, come to be a part of the Olympics?

It travelled to Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai in ’11. Later, I was approached by public art foundations in Europe. The timing of the Olympics and Amnesty International’s keenness worked out.

Tell us about the installation.

It’s a 40-ft multi-sensory art installation, with photographs shot at the sealed Union Carbide Plant in Bhopal. It hints at the state of affairs with a shroud bearing names of victims.

How was it received in India?

Over 95,000 people visited this project in Mumbai in a week alone, making it the largest ever-viewed public art project in India.

How did you put the project together?

The most recent version has been fabricated in Oxford, London, and contains elements created across New York, Mumbai, Delhi and Dubai.

The experience of capturing the tragedy?

Seeing first-hand the control rooms, defunct machinery, storage areas at the plant had an everlasting impression on me.

The installation has a soundscape too.

The soundscape was a collaborative effort with Vijay Jodha, my filmmaker brother, which incorporates some of my old recordings.

How long did the installation take to create?

Starting with a documentation commission for BBC in ’04, it evolved over the last two years.

Your other recent installation, Discord, was mammoth as well. Is large your style?

The public art installations are not really about scale. For example, the canvas for Discord are cast on concrete walls that span large proportions, yet encompass intimate stories of people.

Does art for advocacy work?

My concerns are the larger questions about humanity. My intent was to revisit this issue.

What are you working on next?

I document experiences, issues with various exposures I get on my travels. The projects, therefore, evolve quite organically.