The vibrant, hybrid and paradoxical region of South Asia, home to one fourth of the world’s population, has birthed a new generation of artists.
Sharing centuries of overlapping civilisations and an abundance of common cultural formations, they bring a fresh perspective to art making that defies national state boundaries. Except when constrained to relocate temporarily for political or personal reasons, these artists are rooted and resident in the region, and appear here as a cross-section representing ongoing artistic practices.
Ridden with internecine conflict, South Asia is also enriched by its artistic and cultural visionaries who nurture and empower fresh creative ingenuity. This exhibition reflects both the collisions and the desire for amity which underlies artistic endeavours. Artists collaborate to test compatibility of materials and artistic vocabularies. They share their heartaches, dislocations and raptures. Women practitioners in particular probe the possibilities in domestic pre-colonial processes and the struggle to retrieve lost knowledge. Materials embody collective memories of communities stretched across South Asia, which betray ecological stress, depletion of indigenous resources, and loss of habitat. This does not imply that artists dwell in the past or are averse to the fast expanding domains of digital expression. Technological breakthroughs are embraced with ingenuity,coupled with an understanding of their potentiality. Artists in the region ruminate on many common concerns; the creative imagination in seemingly disparate locations is curiously connected by resilience and inventiveness.
Bringing their exhibition to its current location is a bid to acknowledge historical ties based on the relations of the Empire to its territories and the remnants of legacies of conflict and dominance. Artistic materials and processes carry imprints which continue to evolve and unfold as artists intensify their scrutiny of such legacies. They investigate and embrace concealed traces of the colony with irony and grit. Inventing fresh ways of artistic expression and creative resistance, they make their voices heard in a world which continues to be invested in narratives of dominance.
SOAS Gallery, SOAS Gallery exhibition space, London
Curator: Salima Hashmi
Co-Curator: Manmeet K Walia
Presented by Ravi Jain Memorial Foundation and Dhoomimal Gallery
Featured artists:
Aban Raza (India)
Aiman Amin (Pakistan)
Aisha Abid Hussain (Pakistan)
Amrit Karki (Nepal)
Ashfika Rehman (Bangladesh)
Ayesha Sultana (Bangladesh)
Dinar Sultana (Bangladesh)
Ghulam Mohammad (Pakistan)
Hadi Rahnaward (Afghanistan)
Hanifa Alizada (Afghanistan)
Hema Shironi (Sri Lanka)
Kubra Khademi (Afghanistan)
Maheen Kazim (Pakistan) and Purvai Rai (India)
Moonis Ahmad (India)
Palash Bhattacharjee (Bangladesh)
Pradeep Thalawatta (Sri Lanka)
Prarthna Singh (India)
Rinoshan Susiman (Sri Lanka)
Sajid Khan (Pakistan)
Sangita Maity (India)
Sher Ali (Afghanistan)
Soumya Sankar Bose (India)
Suleman Khilji (Pakistan)
T Vinoja (Sri Lanka)
Varunika Saraf (India)