statement

Banita Mistry creates paintings through repetitive, automatic processes that explore what it means to be human in an age increasingly shaped by machines.

 

Working primarily with henna (mehndi), a plant-based dye traditionally applied to the body, she applies the material directly onto canvas using a fine piping cone. Repeating a single gesture thousands of times, the surface gradually accumulates into dense fields of line, allowing time, labour and attention to become physically visible.

 

Inspired by the logic of contemporary technology, Mistry reverses the relationship between human and machine. While machines increasingly attempt to imitate humans, her process imitates the machine: a single command, repeated relentlessly by hand. The resulting works remain unapologetically human. Every wobble, inconsistency and mistake records the presence of the body and becomes evidence of time, concentration and endurance.

 

Through this accumulation of simple gestures, Mistry considers what machines cannot replicate.