take us as we are

 

We consider creativity as a fundamental aspect of all people’s lives that inform diverse heritage and arts. The fact that some people and objects are accorded more distinction than others owes to their accrued privileges and opportunities, on the one hand, and their suitability to institutional and ideological precedents and evolutions, on the other.  With the exhibition, 'take us as we are', we adopt an equal and equalising platform.

 

Here, you will find people who have made artworks in the home, some who made them for collectives, some as individuals for audiences based in India, some in the UK, while others have been embraced more widely in national and international circles, having pierced through the veils and barriers that they have encountered against their positional identities - whether it be based on the interstices of their gender, class, caste, ethnicity, race, disability, and sexuality among other factors.

 

From their unknown to known makers, these artworks transcend the specifics of objects, media, contexts, time-spaces and art-craft binaries.

 

Older generations who act as both inspirations and pioneers (Anon, Mohinder Kaur Bhamra, Shyama Devi, Surjeet Hussain, Gian Kaur, Kamal Koria, Malti Rao) are placed next to those whose artworks are appreciated as part of new and upcoming scenes (George Chakravarthi, Amarjeet Nandhra, Rezia Wahid, Sonia Panesar, Rakhi Peswani, Sohaya Visions and Mukul & Ghetto Tigers).

 

Those who work with and adapt traditional creative media (Dukhushyam Chitrakar, Lutfa Chitrakar, Fouzia Dastango, Tanima Dhar, Surjeet Hussain, Manpreet Kaur) are integrated with those whose craft extends to new media (Bhajan Hunjan, Bishi, Mandeep Singh Manu, Seema Mattu, Mithu Sen).

 

Those whose creative works speak subtly (Meenatchi Gopal, Shilpa Gupta, Amina Khayyam, Ranjeeta Kumari, Malvika Raj, Bisakha Sarker, Janine Shroff, Dayanita Singh) are merged with those who adopt a more strident tone against social injustices and national borders (Raisa Kabir, Ita Mehrotra, Sudharak Olwe, Mir Suhail, Ikkatar Singh, Tandel Fund of Archives, Kavishri Jatha Rasulpur, and documentary filmmakers, Anuj Deshpande on Kabir Kala Manch in Maharashtra, and Randeep Maddoke on two singers in Punjab, Saida Begum and Jagsir Jeeda).

 

The website was designed by Blossom Carrasco, a UK-based graphic and digital artist with a heritage in the roots and routes of India and Kenya.

 

All should be taken as they are.

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(Exhibition curated by Premjish Achari, Parul Dave-Mukherji, Sanjukta Ghosh,

Raminder Kaur, Navtej Purewal, and Sourav Roy, 2022)