FOLD

In this projected video, "FOLD," a grid of twelve-by-eight frames captures the Indian-born artist Surabhi Saraf in jeans and a white shirt as she folds laundry on the couch. The frames begin in perfect unison, their multiplication invoking the repetitive nature of household chores. As the videos progress, Saraf hums a hypnotic melody, occasionally interrupted by the flap of jeans and sheets. The frames begin to operate out of synch in unexpected patterns that give the composition a fluttering, rhythmic quality reminiscent of stop-motion photography. At one point, viewers see disjunctive images of her bare arms, conjuring, as art critic Kenneth Baker observed, “the manifold arms of goddesses in classical Indian sculpture.” With a background in experimental sound and classical Indian music, Saraf creates installations that find beauty in the mundane and slow down our perception of time. Through color, sound, repetition, fragmentation, and multiplication, "FOLD" turns a prosaic activity into a captivating visual and sonic experience.