Ruxx Kholvawala / Soul Openers

Ceramic Masks

On a brown cow hide, sit 3 large human face masks forming a v shape. They are silver, metallic and made of terracotta clay which peeps though in streaks on each one. Each one has a ruffled or crimped edge.

The Ruux Kholvawala or ‘Soul Openers’ are 3 ceramic masks handmade by DARCH. They take inspiration from ceremonial masks in Indian and Somali cultures that are used to communicate with the spirits of earth to translate their pain, grief, joy and teachings to the human world. In performances one mask is worn by Umulkhayr, one by and Radha and the other is offered to the spirits. In this way, we challenge and reject a common narrative in climate activism that the Earth needs 'saving' or that the duty of humans is to ‘save’ the Earth. Instead we believe that we must respect the Earth’s agency by first asking what it wants and respond to its needs before making assumptions.