While the box’s ‘life’ ends with the light and the perpetuating shadows that feed its journey, other works speak of latent, unrealized potential. The gallery walls become malleable for some works and as their rigidity rendered pliable by the artist they become infused with life. The seemingly solid structure gently yields to artwork, pushing our senses of perception and being. In another work, numerous large ‘seeds’ nestle together, containing within them Secrets that can only be revealed through the violent act of breaking open the seed. A visual and philosophical riddle, Secrets becomes a mirror to the human conscience, its vulnerabilities and contradictions where destruction and creation/revelation are simultaneous acts.

Balasubramaniam’s latest installations elaborate on the themes explored in his work Dark Light and Container as Content. His earlier work questioned what we see – the subjectivity of our perception. This was followed by works that challenged us to believe in the unseen by situating the hidden in our consciousness. In the most recent body of works Bala has given physical mass to the ephemeral in casting the shadows of shadows. While creating form for the dark and the unseen he is revealing the experience of light and allowing the viewer a glimpse of what is hidden-in-sight.