Hosting My First Solo Exhibition!
Created over the span of 5 years, this particular body of work titled “Renaissance” after the classical art movement, is symbolic of the fluidity of culture. “There’s an ambiguity surrounding your sense of identity when you’re caught between your Eastern roots and your Western upbringing. Like the ‘renaissance man’ known for possessing many talents and areas of expertise, no two individuals have the exact same relationship with their culture and how each person navigates this connection is vast, with everyone having many unique ways of expressing how their heritage has influenced them.”
Dissecting this complex sense of belonging, I segment my interpretation of South Asian identity by looking to the past, present, and future. “The way I personally go about it, I document the history of my heritage through the stories of goddesses and historical figures. I represent my love for our culture through the way I modernize traditional aesthetics. And I look to the future by the way I reimagine the faces of South Asian beauty and fight for representation.”
“Renaissance” is not just about where we come from, but where we’re going and how we take pride in who we are.
This show was an experience I had been planning for 2 years featuring over 30+ pieces of artwork. Hosted by Ambiente Gallerie in Minneapolis, this exhibition ran from September 17th through October 29th 2021.
At the heart of contemporary South Asian culture is the concept of “fusion culture” or the idea of blending Eastern and Western elements into your everyday life, so I wanted this event to reflect our love of combining mediums and styles in a modern way. My vision for this event was not to curate a traditional artist exhibition, but to create an open space for culture to be understood and heard by allowing multiple art styles to be displayed simultaneously while personally initiating conversations with the guests.
It’s rare to see South Asian art displayed in galleries, let alone exhibitions that don’t confine us to ancient temple art or Western stereotypes of South Asian culture. There’s in fact a large, growing community of modern South Asian artists that are rarely celebrated outside of the online space, so it was incredibly humbling to have an opportunity to showcase the power of the South Asian voice to the public, especially after being in lockdown and growing accustomed to scrolling through art on our phones for over 2 years.
We often times forget that art is an experience, so my opening reception was a pop up style event with food, music, and fashion to accompany each artwork’s aura and charisma. Seeing each person study the textures and colors of the pieces while stopping to take in the meaning behind each artwork was the most fulfilling part. Even more special was witnessing so many guests being able to see a part of themselves in my creations, which makes me believe that what we have to say matters!
The most important responsibility I have as an artist is creating safe spaces and passing on a sense of belonging, where our individual, unique quirks are accepted and celebrated as a strength. It’s this connection that makes who we are relatable and the type of groundwork that shifts mainstream culture.
If this is our cultural revolution as South Asians, it’s also our Renaissance.
