“Just as the act of ringing the bell in a temple is believed to induce mindfulness, this calla lily bell metaphorically suggests a wake-up call, focusing attention on our climate and ecological emergency.” –Ashwini Bhat
What Will It Take / For Us To Awake? reflects upon the complexity – both beautiful and sobering – of humanity’s ongoing encounter with the world around us. By casting a bronze bell in the form of a calla lily, Bhat brings an unexpectedly delicate, ephemeral quality to a rigid and permanent material, evoking both the strength and the fragility of an environment whose sustainability is often taken for granted.
“For years, I’ve been working with the calla lily motif as a symbol for regeneration and resilience, for the alliance of the female body and nature,” says the artist, who now bases her practice in the foothills of Sonoma Mountain, California after 35 years in Southern India.
Installed on the museum’s third-floor landing, just outside the South Asia galleries, What Will It Take / For Us To Awake? is bathed in the natural light of the landing’s greenhouse-like glass enclosure. The work’s steel carriage frames not only the bell, but also the world outside, including the never-ending stream of passersby on Hyde Street below. This continuous engagement with the surrounding neighborhood creates a dynamic art experience which is never the same twice.
What Will It Take / For Us To Awake? was commissioned by the Society for Art & Cultural Heritage of India (SACHI) to commemorate their 25th anniversary and their ongoing collaborative partnership with the Asian Art Museum. The sculpture “offers a powerful symbol of growth and resilience while foreshadowing exciting new directions for the South Asia collection,” says Padma Dorje Maitland, Malavalli Family Foundation Associate Curator, Art of the Indian Subcontinent.
Image: What Will It Take / For Us To Awake?, 2024, by Ashwini Bhat. Bronze and patinated steel. Commissioned for the Asian Art Museum by the Society for Art & Cultural Heritage of India (SACHI) in appreciation of a valued partnership on the occasion of its 25th anniversary (1997–2022), 2024.86a-c. Photograph by Kevin Candland. Photograph © Asian Art Museum of San Francisco.
