Reshmi Dey

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In 1999, Reshmi Dey, an Economics and Mathematics graduate, turned her back to the corporate world to follow her heart. She found her calling in the creative glass industry. Her first introduction to studio glass art was in 2001 under the guidance of Czech Maestro Petre Novotny and Martin Jenesky. She later also studied at the International Glass Centre, Dudley UK with a specialization in hot glass blowing. In 2017, Reshmi established India’s first public access glass art studio, along with the company Glass Sutra Studio Pvt. Ltd. in New Delhi which promotes education, awareness and appreciation about glass art. She has also worked extensively with the glass artisans of Firozabad, U.P.

Reshmi has consulted and facilitated the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and The Director General of Employment and Labour (DGE&T) under Ministry of Labour (Government of India), for the Skill Development Programme over four years. She was awarded the Senior Fellowship by Ministry of Culture, Government of India in 2017. Reshmi lives and works in Delhi.

‘’The Oinochoe is an elegant vessel of Roman times, with a mouth formed like a trefoil and a handle with a delicate curve.like a trefoil and a handle with a delicate curve. It combines heart and mind while being functional or aesthetically pleasing. History plays a fundamental role in human thought. It invokes notions of human agency, change, and the role of material circumstances in human affairs. It suggests the possibility of better understanding of human emotions by understanding the forces, choices, and circumstances that bring out certain emotions in some specific situation.

I have explored this historical artifact and attempted to express a connection between people and Oinochoe transforming the historical object into modern and abstract art pieces. Hence giving a new meaning to the object. The wine pourer was crafted by a human – a glassmaker, who must have experienced a range of emotions or feelings while crafting the piece and that got expressed while making like Triumph, Surrender, Abnegate Shackled and Halcyon. These reflections can be grouped together into a body of work called Oinochoe – Forward or Reverse. ‘’ Reshmi Dey

Trees are significant in many of the world's mythologies, and have been given deep and sacred meanings throughout the ages. Human beings, observing the growth and death of trees, and the annual death and revival of their foliage, have often seen them as powerful symbols of growth, death and rebirth and are metaphors of the eternal, immortality or fertility.

Examples throughout the world include the banyan and the sacred fig in Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism as well as the tree of knowledge of good and evil of Judaism and Christianity. The Bodhi Tree, also known as the Tree Of Awakening, gyan vriksh, is a large sacred fig tree and is recognizable by its heart-shaped leaves, which are prominently displayed all through the installation.