The Juggler (2012)

Sudarshan Shetty
Still from The Juggler (2012)
Single channel video played in loop, 8:04 minutes
Image courtesy of the artist

The Juggler is a film depicting a man juggling three earthen pots in slow-motion. Reminiscent of several traditions in India where the pot is a symbol for the body, Shetty too refers to its imbued meaning as a vessel for prana, the life-force shared between all living things. While the work takes place in silence, the blurry traces of the orbiting bodies produce a visual echo suggesting a sonic metaphor central to the artist’s process. 

In effect, we do not see a man juggling three pots, but a man surrounded by innumerable pots suspended in the air, leaving the viewer in suspense whether any of them might fall and break the barrier of silence that shrouds the room.