emerging artist with new approach
Prakash Bal Joshi
Swapnil Patil is a London-based contemporary artist originally from New Delhi, India. His multidisciplinary practice spans photography, sculpture, installation, film, and public art, often exploring the profound spiritual and emotional connections between humans and the built environment. A graduate with a BA (Hons) in Photography from London South Bank University and an MA in Public Art and Performative Practices from London Metropolitan University, Patil brings a unique perspective shaped by the contrasting urban landscapes of his native India and adopted home in the UK. His work frequently delves into themes of memory, belonging, ecological fragility, postcolonial displacement, and the overlooked narratives embedded in city spaces.
At the heart of Patil’s recent oeuvre lies “The Empty Spaces: Personal Absolute Space Point” (2020–present), an ongoing photographic and conceptual series that serves as a meditative inquiry into presence and absence, time and space, silence, and structure. Born from the surreal stillness of the COVID-19 lockdown, the series captures London’s deserted streets, concrete corridors, underpasses, and architectural facades transformed into realms of introspection. Empty urban spaces become active characters—palpable in their silence—inviting viewers to confront humanity’s often disconnected relationship with man-made environments. Patil describes the work as revealing “the emotional and metaphysical undercurrents that shape our interaction with the built environment,” where isolation acts not as void but as a mirror for inner clarity and emotional residue.
Central to the series is the concept of the “personal absolute space point”—an adaptation of the physics term for an unchanging reference point. Patil reimagines it as a subjective, temporal coordinate: a private inner zone of grounding and emotional steadiness amid the flux of modern life. In an era of overstimulation and vertical, fragmented cities, these “absolute space points” emerge in liminal pockets—forgotten corners where silence speaks volumes and absence fosters attentiveness. The photographs blend documentary precision with abstract interventions, employing long exposures, intentional camera movement, and techniques like the Inverse Chrono-Spatial Axis Shift (ICSAS). This method collapses linear time, creating “temporal fossils” that warp architecture into fluid, enigmatic forms, blending restlessness with serenity and challenging fixed perceptions of reality.
Patil extends the series beyond still images into a 288-page photobook (published 2023/2024 by msdm publications, with editorial design by Paula Roush), featuring photography and text that guide viewers through London’s hushed vastness. The publication, along with related film works like The Empty Spaces: Glide, transforms stillness into motion—softening high-rises into drifting remembrances through collaboration with motion graphics artists, composers, and editors. An interactive digital element encourages viewers to invert their phone’s colors and use the camera, mirroring the theme of navigating spatial memory and alternate dimensions.
The series resonates deeply with broader human experiences. Influenced by his transitions between rapidly transforming cities like New Delhi and London, Patil reflects on development’s emotional costs—silenced histories, ecological fragility, and the longing for belonging. Minimalism here functions philosophically: it urges slowing down, dwelling in the unsaid, and recognizing that “the emptiness is not void; it is full of echoes.” Related projects, such as Floating Fallacy (2022 photobook), complement this by exploring unstable surfaces like water, further questioning representation, time, and environmental perception.
Patil’s work has been exhibited widely, including at Copeland Gallery, Holy Art Gallery, and public installations like “Lights of Vine Street” in London’s Aldgate. In 2025, pieces from the series featured prominently in Luton’s Hat District as part of Heritage Open Days and Hidden in Plain Sight, celebrating overlooked architectural details. Screenings of the accompanying film Glide occurred at venues like the Hat Factory Arts Centre, with further international presentations planned, such as in Bologna, Italy. Upcoming commissions, supported by Arts Council England and others, will expand the project into Luton-specific explorations of urban narratives through workshops and publications.
Swapnil Patil’s art invites quiet contemplation in a noisy world. “The Empty Spaces: Personal Absolute Space Point” reminds us that true presence often reveals itself in absence—where personal inner anchors meet the vast, silent structures around us. Through his lens, the overlooked becomes profound, the empty full of potential, and the transient eternally resonant. His practice not only documents shifting urban realities but also offers a philosophical space for reflection on how we inhabit time, memory, and place.
