Shubigi Rao: These Petrified Paths

<p><em>Shubigi Rao: These Petrified Paths</em> is the first survey in China encompassing the artist’s work from the past decade. The exhibition’s title is derived from a newly commissioned feature-length film, which intertwines tales and recollections of Armenian local communities into an enthralling narrative. It layers memory, written and spoken word, dialogue, terrain, and everyday existence to pose the questions: Can storytelling from the margins serve as a conduit for recalling a nation’s shared identity? Who determines the worthiness of knowledge for preservation? What is the connection between fossil-fuel extractivism, energy supplies, and lost archives and books?</p> <p>Viewing the museum’s exhibition spaces as strata, this exhibition offers a layered experience emphasizing vertical connections. The 4th, 5th, and 6th floors are transformed into “the sacred space,” “the margins,” and “the action,” respectively, interconnected by the installation <em>Of That Colossal Wreck</em> (2023) and the vertically suspended <em>Watermarks</em> (2023) scrolls. The third floor, “the subterranean,” symbolizes the necessary tunneling actions to undermine the foundations of oppressive structures. By illuminating fragmented experiences, memories, and often overlooked infrastructures of transmission, of knowledge and energy, <em>These Petrified Paths</em> invites viewers to celebrate diverse forms of knowledge and to learn from the margins how to evolve beyond destruction, loss, death, and entropy.</p>