What does it take to stage an exhibition? Our new series ‘Studio Roll’ offers a glimpse behind the scenes, with all the hands, faces, and mishaps that the visitors do not see when they are looking at the installed works in a gallery or a museum.
Our first guest, Sagarika Sundaram, opened up her camera roll and offered a candid photo-reportage of the preparations for ‘Reservoir’, which features works made especially for the exhibition. In Kutch, western India, Sundaram counted on the help of her partner Ben Goldfarb and her ‘gang’ of assistants and fixers to make her textile works come to life. She walks us through the process.
Sagarika Sundaram is represented by Alison Jacques (London) and Nature Morte (New Delhi, Mumbai).
Her show ‘Reservoir’ will be on view at the Henry Moore Institute in Leeds from September 30, 2026, to January 10, 2027.
Caption for header video: Trailer for ‘Reservoir’, 2026.
Caption for video no. 2: ‘My team is on either side, manually twisting the ends of the rope with bamboo poles. Two people on the tabletop are moving a triangular metal unit called a ‘top’, which passes tension through the rope in a controlled manner allowing it to twist onto itself.’
Caption for video no. 3: ‘Dancer (2026) is hanging for the first time in a warehouse that we secured specially for this work because we needed somewhere with a nine-meter ceiling height to test the work. We hung a massive tarpaulin to cover the hole in the wall where a door was yet to be installed. We temporarily installed lights, and rented scaffolding from construction companies. Dancer in its final form weighs about 20 kilos.’
All photos and videos: Courtesy of the artist, Henry Moore Institute, Minyung Im, Ben Goldfarb, Sohail Wazir, Disha Shah, and Rimil Umul Collective.
Published on September 17, 2026.