Embedded in the work of the Indian installation artist Sheela Gowda are materials native to Bengaluru, where she lives and works. Rich with metaphorical meaning, such stuff as cow dung, kumkum powder, coconut fiber, hair, needles, threads, stones, and tar barrels are a visceral part of Gowda’s poetics. She is telling tales about rural and urban life in India, as well as critiquing industrial practices. —E.C.