For the Indian Art Fair that takes place annually, in 2017, one of country’s leading art galleries, the Delhi Art Gallery decided to install Laxma Goud’s rendition of a ceremonial gateway. This mammoth work titled ‘Torana’, weighed over 2000 kg and was composed of 20 individual pieces in ceramic clay depicting men, women, sun, moon and elements of everyday life.

For the installation, the gallery experts decided that the Torana had to be assembled on a customized heavy metal frame and displayed at an angle. The installation had various risk factors involved, as the pieces were huge but very fragile. For this reason, a team of conservators from ARC Studio were appointed to prepare this artwork for display, and to be on site while the installation was underway in order to check for any last-minute restoration requirement or accidents.

The approach was to fumigate and air dry the active fungus. After mechanical cleaning to remove the dust, dirt and dried fungus residue, solvents were applied to further clean the surface and grooves. The restorers then went ahead with the consolidation of the broken and loose pieces. For this, a special mortar was prepared and injected to close any gaps in the tiles that were broken or chipped. Some lost and missing pieces also had to be recreated in a way that did complete justice to the artist’s work.

Anupama Gaur, director of ARC Resources and Services, describes this project as one of the ‘most challenging assignments’ till date. Much before the installation, the panels were lying in cartons, and the first task for the team was to inspect all damages and fix them. The other challenge was the weight of the individual panels. With each panel roughly weighing about 100-150 kg, it required a workforce to move these sculptures around even for small tasks.