Nick Sethi: SRI
Opening: 07/11/24 6–8PM
Three titles book launch: 08/21/24 6–8PM
Sri, a Sanskrit word meaning beauty or majesty, is still used in many South Asian languages as an honorific term denoting respect. Over a three day period in 2022, Sethi and his mother visited Vrindavan, an ancient city and pilgrimage site rooted in Indian mythology. The photographs he took there investigate physical manifestations of respect and value through ritual, decoration, utility, touch, and connection to nature and one another; all common themes in Sethi’s work.
Sethi’s installation at Dashwood Projects takes these observations one step further as he enacts the concepts his pictures portray. At the center of the room stands Cindy, an 8 by 8 foot object that operates as and in-between a book, a photograph, and a shrine-like sculpture. The 288 photographs are utilized here as objects of adornment, sealed within protective bags, and adhered by hand in a brick-like pattern, as if to uphold those surrounding them. The hinged foam-core structure supporting them is one commonly found on photoshoots, with multiple uses as a backdrop, mood board, room divider, and a way to absorb, shape, and most importantly, reflect light. Sethi considers these seemingly simple and sometimes mechanical gestures of photographing, storing, and printing, as well as naming, framing, and presenting, ones of extreme importance, and at the heart of both his artistic and spiritual practices… His way of showing care, respect, and love.
The images in SRI are available as framed 6x9 inch digital C-prints made in an edition of only 1. They are presented alongside other works from the artist’s oeuvre which support and complicate their meaning.
SRI, is accompanied by a new publication of the same title co-published by Dashwood Books and Dakota, containing all 288 photographs from the show presented chronologically.
Nick Sethi is an artist and commercial/fashion photographer based in New York. His practice has a strong emphasis on publishing, with a prolific output of 60+ publications, 8 of which have been in collaboration with Dashwood Books.
Matchbox
2.25 × 1.375 in
$3
Book
Published by Dakota and Dashwood Books
First edition
Softcover
288 pages
6.7 x 9.6 inches
$45
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