Bindi Vora: Mountain of Salt
Curated By Carrie Scott
The Language of Crisis, Memory, and Resistance
Bindi Vora’s ongoing series, Mountain of Salt, explores the impact of language in times of crisis. Beginning in March 2020, Vora started collecting phrases from social media, political speeches, journalism, and personal conversations, tracing the way words shape our collective experience. While initially centred on the COVID-19 pandemic, the work quickly expanded to encompass issues of oppression, racism, trauma, and moments of unexpected humour and solace.
Vora’s compositions - comprised of found photographs, appropriated text, and digital collage - reveal the emotional weight of language. Words are not just tools of communication; they carry authority, inflict wounds, create narratives, and redefine reality.
The Power of Words in a New Reality
As the pandemic unfolded, society became fixated on data, statistics, and ever-shifting guidelines. Through this, Vora became acutely aware of how words themselves could become a source of comfort, confusion, manipulation, or resistance.
"In this amplified landscape, we cling to language for certainty, only to find it shifting beneath us. Words take on physical presence. They shape our emotions, our fears, our resilience. They become the history we live through."
— Bindi Vora
Her collection of phrases presents a curious juxtaposition of the profound and the absurd:
"Cough Etiquette"
"Hijacking a Peaceful Protest"
"Tissue of Lies"
"Quarantine is a stunt, they could be playing golf"
"You’ve fucked with the last generation"
The tension between political rhetoric, misinformation, protest, and personal reflection runs through the series, revealing the contradictions, fractures, and solidarity of the moment.
A Living Archive of Uncertainty and Change
With Mountain of Salt, Vora has created an ongoing archive of contemporary language, capturing the fluidity of public discourse. This series is not fixed in time - it continues to grow, mirroring the unfolding chaos, resistance, and adaptation of society.
As of April 2021, the series comprises 349 works - each a fragment of history, a witness to the shifting emotional and political landscape of our time.
About Bindi Vora
A British photographic artist, Bindi Vora works with analogue processes and archival materials, often incorporating subtle pigments, marks, and layered textures to explore perception, memory, and representation. Her interest in recycling materials speaks to an ongoing dialogue between past and present, creating interconnected visual narratives.
A graduate of the University of Westminster (BA Hons in Photographic Arts, 2013), Vora’s work has been exhibited internationally, including at The Photographers’ Gallery, 180 The Strand, Yinka Shonibare’s Guest Projects, Phoenix Gallery, Benaki Museum, and Art Stage Singapore. Her works are also held in the collections of Goldsmiths University, the Museum of Modern Art (New York), and Self Publish Be Happy, London.
In 2019, Vora was commissioned by Hospital Rooms to produce an artwork for The Junipers, an NHS Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit in Exeter, Devon.
A Reflection of Our Times
Through Mountain of Salt, Bindi Vora examines the way language shapes our reality, influences our emotions, and captures the essence of our collective experience. It is a living document, a testament to an era of crisis and transformation, and a reminder that the words we choose have power.