What does it take? To merely exist, let alone make it; the cost is more than most have to give. CHARMOLI CIARMOLI is proud to present a duo exhibition of artists Nicki Cherry and Anoushka Bhalla. A Pound of Flesh explores the notions of cruelty and care. Whether it be the overarching societal mechanisms that deny care or inflict cruelty or the personally faced hardships of ailments and the generational traumas endured through violent conflict. We invite you to enter a dialog of recognizing people's sacrifices as we
reflect on the history and present state of humanity, as we search for answers as to how we can make compassionate conditions for all.

About the Artist Nicki Cherry:
My sculptures are active sites of growth and decay—tulips bloom from stretching tendrils, ceramic bodies leak milky fluids, spine-shaped candles burn and diffuse scent. I build up bloated and monstrous figurative forms with pigmented concrete, fiberglass, wax, and resin. Some of the sculptures are brightly saturated and recall flesh, while others more closely mimic the patina of stone. The attention to surface detail in my sculptures mirrors how the condition of human skin can externalize illness or emotional states, such as how acne can indicate hormonal imbalance or flushed skin can reveal embarrassment.

2019 MFA, Sculpture, Yale School of Art, New Haven, CT 2014 BA, Visual Arts, University of Chicago Solo exhibitions: Chicago, IL 2023 Doctrine of Signatures, NARS Foundation, Brooklyn, NY 2021 Speaking with Lions, The Border Project Space, Brooklyn, NY Residencies: 2023 Surf Point Foundation, York, ME 2022 NARS Foundation International Residency, Brooklyn, NY

About the Artist Anoushka Bhalla:
My practice explores existence through visual research into the materialization of collective trauma and the decay of collective intergenerational memory. My art, vacillating between the abstract and the representational, is derived from historical archives of the colonized people and sites of ethnic cleansing in my homeland of India and within the wider global landscape. Born out of histories of bodily trauma, the loom of death and the spectacle of genocide as seen through memories of ancestral massacres, local and global holocausts, histories of slavery, lynching and other modes of colonial violences, I engage with art-making to contend with the loss of my family and my ancestors who were martyred to these forgotten bloodbaths.

MFA SVA 2023, MFA the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda India 2019 Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2021, LES young artists of color fellowship 2023