SEHAJ MALIK
ART
Sehaj Malik’s practice explores the relationship between the body and the spaces it inhabits. Working through drawing and performance, she creates sets of instructions that determine movement and spatial limits within a set timeframe. Through this process, the body becomes both an instrument of creation and subject to the process itself.
Growing up in Delhi, India, Sehaj was influenced by her father’s work in factories. The movement, repetition and mechanical actions of machinery recur throughout her practice.
Her works record the movement of a body negotiating the limits of the space around it. Repeated actions are pushed towards fatigue, leaving behind intentional marks alongside traces that cannot be controlled.
Within Topographies, Sehaj’s practice considers how the spaces and systems we inhabit influence the way we move through the world, and the role these interactions play in shaping our sense of identity.
More information on Sehaj Malik : https://www.instagram.com/sehaj.malik/
For Sehaj Malik, we have chosen dishes whose ingredients and processes reflect her roots in industrialised Delhi, a context that continues to inform the themes running through her practice such as mechanical movement, repeated action, physical effort, and material transformation over time.
FOOD
Khichdi Choux
Activated charcoal choux, Lentil porridge, Pickle yoghurt, Yoghurt crisps
Khichdi reflects the artwork’s themes of pressure and transformation: lentils and rice soften and change form under pressure, becoming a dish traditionally turned to for comfort and nourishment when one is unwell. As an affordable everyday source of protein in Delhi, lentils also speak to resilience — where the external act of eating for comfort leads to an internal process of recovery and renewal.
Daulat ki Chaat Entremet
Saffron milk foam, Mawa caramel, Almond crumble
The repeated whipping of milk to draw air into it alludes to an external action reshaping the internal structure of the object it interacts with, until it becomes almost weightless. This reflects the artwork’s themes of motion and repetition. Mawa (evaporated milk solids), a staple of sweets across Delhi and its surrounding regions, brings a rich, caramelised flavour and subtle graininess that recalls the tactile texture of charcoal.
