Neha Choksi

Leaf Fall
2007-2008
HDV, color, widescreen, stereo sound, subtitles
14 minutes 15 seconds

INSTALLATION AT HAYWARD GALLERY PROJECT SPACE

VIDEO STILLS

ARTIST NOTE

Leaf Fall shows a troupe’s denuding of a rural peepul tree over the course of a single day, leaving behind an autumnal sprig. The surviving leaf is made special through the day’s relentless process of subtraction, and it is this process of absenting and elimination that propel the emotive force of Leaf Fall. In Leaf Fall, I was interested in gaining access to that single last remaining leaf, in perceiving it in its singularity, and the only way to do that, for me, was to remove the presence of the other leaves. Similarly Petting Zoo/Minds to Lose was also about evacuating presence. The text spoken in Leaf Fall was generated through a poetic distillation of over 40 pages of transcribed interviews with crews, actors and friends.

Leaf Fall is the second work in a trilogy on reticence, absenting, withdrawing, and disengaging. The other two are Minds to Lose and Iceboat.



CREDITS

A film by Neha Choksi | Performers: Samar Katyaan, Ashish Pandey, Vinay Chauhan, Madhu Yadav, Suresh Yadav, & the children of Nanoli village | Camera: Neha Choksi & Prasann Jain | Editing & Sound Design: Arindam Ghatak | Thanks to the Nanoli Stud Farm

 

RELATED WORKS

Aftermath
2012

The Drop
2008

Petting Zoo
2008

Leaf Fall drawings and paintings
2009

Minds to Lose drawings
2008—2010

Glow
2008