Dear friends and patrons,
Hello from cherry blossom covered London!
First up, I’m thrilled to share that I’m currently participating in a group show titled “At Daybreak”, curated by Dr. Sophie Guo. Currently on view till April 15 at Ignition Project - a nomadic gallery project showing at 30 Tottenham Street, London W1.
London peeps - do try and see the show while it is still on!
It is exciting to be part of a set with such varied practices but still connected through movement and colour, and most of all through dream driven work. An excerpt from the curatorial note-
When sunlight struggles to pierce the darkest hour of the night, and dreams are at their most vivid, the moment at daybreak marks an ambiguous state of transition that defies binary distinctions. This threshold moment, imbued with ambivalent, undefinable and heterotopic qualities, is captured by its Japanese term '夜 明 け' (yoake). Literally meaning 'the night becoming bright,’
A painting I made last year titled “In dreams we rest”, was born from notes from films - Man Ray’s Starfish and Sissako’s Waiting for Happiness, my walks through ancient cities (particularly Carthage - around this time, last year), and observation of everyday characters from life. The stories of people, plants, land and politics are deeply entwined.
A dream journaling exercise over several months and walking formed key parts of the process behind this work. I do hope to bring out this dream journal one day!
Melting Lands, my tapestry-painting is also part of this show, along with some current studies, sketchbooks and a sculpture I made during the first lockdown of 2020. It has felt very special to be able to view these in relation to and in the same space as some fabulous paintings, drawings, poetry and sculpture made by my fellow artists.
Recent impactful happenings..
A couple of weeks ago, I attended a conference, organised by CREAM which was part of the spectacular and relevant Women in Revolt exhibition at Tate Britain. My dear friend Sehr Jalil presented her research titled “And So They Laughed…”, which was succinct, satirical and so relevant.
Sehr’s research on women using humour as a means to revolt holds relevance in both Pakistan and India. Taking space through humour and laughter has also found its way into our conversations - both fellow South Asian women artists here in the UK and belonging to a family of independent and progressive women. The work and lives (wins and struggles) of our mothers, grandmothers and aunts are often referenced in our observations and chats - and these anecdotes belong to something I like to call ‘joyful feminism’.
The current New Contemporaries show was fun to visit last weekend! I particularly loved the painting by Elena Njoabuzia Onwochei-Garcia and Samuel Zhang’s video work.
Crunch - a new ‘microexhibition’ at Royal Academy of Arts explores the dialogue between traditional urbanism and place building through new materials, theories and design principles. Some natural crystals inspired building materials I saw today were particularly cool!
Have a great rest of the week everyone, and Eid Mubarak to all those celebrating!
A big welcome to all the new subscribers - this newsletter is a drip-feed of my work, references and perspectives.