Inherited Memory
June 5th 2020 -
June 26th 2020
Sarah Naqvi, Shrine
of Memories, 2018, Embroidered sculptures, Metal mesh and embroidery thread
About the Exhibition
With a series
each by the artists, Garima Gupta, Rithika Merchant, Sarah Naqvi and
SaubiyaChasmawala, ‘Inherited Memory’ continues to attempt to yield
inspiration, contextualize and make sense of the current scenario as we begin
to rebuild a new normal. We look closely at the idea of bearing witness, with
every artist recording and trying to cope with a different memory.
This exhibition
comes together after pondering the environmental effects of a world-wide
quarantine in ‘Resurgence’ and reminiscing our lives before lockdown in
‘Navigating Geometries’. The team at TARQ, along with our artists, continues to
look further within ourselves through this next exhibition ‘Inherited
Memory’.
As we begin to
try and heal and repair from this pandemic, the initial sense of panic
and anxiety has faded. The existential doubt rises up and we wonder about our
basic survival going forward. This urges us to dig into the archives of our
memory, in an attempt to pierce through these inarticulate and intangible
emotions; emerging resilient and ready to conquer the trauma of the past, and
enter into a new reality. This collection of artworks are expressions of
freedom, of memory, of nature and of space.
The exhibition
will be accompanied by a lecture series conducted by Dr.Kaiwan Mehta, a
stimulating discussion between our artists and artist talk-throughs, all
conducted online, in our continued attempt to recreate some of the physical
programming that we are all missing out on at the moment. Details of these will
be available on our social media pages through the duration of the exhibition.
About the Artists
As an artist and
researcher, Garima
Gupta’sfield of interest and study stretches from
ornithology, topographical alterations and nuances of behaviour patterns
between man and wild, primarily in the Southeast Asian archipelago. Through her
intriguing drawings and documentaries, Garima traces patterns of destruction
from different historical periods, ruminating on the connection between
imperialist iconographies concerning wildlife and its mirror images lurking in
the psyche of the modern-day East. Her ongoing work focuses on environmental
catastrophe and wildlife loss through her in-depth research on wildlife hunters
in the New Guinea rainforests, wildlife bazaars in parts of Indonesian islands
and taxidermy related trade in Thailand.
With nature
playing an important role and an emphasized use of organic shapes and colours, Rithika Merchantworks
explore myths across geography. She creates mosaics of myths that question received
histories that are available to us throughout culture. Her paintings are made
using a combination of watercolour, gouache, ink and collage elements, drawing
on 17th-century botanical drawings and folk art, to create a body of work that
is visually linked to our collective pasts.
Inspired by
female- driven narratives, Sarah
Naqviengages in conversations themed around
religious and societal stigmas. Using textiles and embroidery as the primary
mediums in her practice, this young visual artist uses the cathartic nature of
its process to address relevant issues of marginalization. According to Sarah,
“Witnessing violence through images of brutality and loss in daily newspapers
has been an extent of our privileges. These become visuals we encounter on a
day to day basis. In time, we grow accustomed to it, desensitised,
depersonalised.” It is these objects that she represents here, her threadwork
marking, deliberately the passage of time, and the events that are now too
familiar.
Since her graduation from MSU
Baroda in 2015, SaubiyaChasmawalasees
her work as a means to reflect on everything that has played a significant role
in shaping the way she perceives the world. Art making for her is about
confronting her fears and getting over them. It is about transformation and
regeneration. She works primarily on paper and uses various symbols, gestures
and images as a starting point of interaction with the surface. Her process is
intuitive and introspective. It allows her to discover a deeper understanding
of herself and her experiences. From her 2017 series, “A Pilgrimage of
Historical Oversights”, Saubiya has worked over photographs from her family archive
of her visits to many places of pilgrimage. She has painted over them to depict
her versions of what the photographs represented in order to reflect on the
spaces and stories of her childhood.
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