For Here or To Go? | Second Solo Art Exhibition with S.Dot Gallery
This series explores my navigation through the American landscape as a brown immigrant woman, particularly now as I transition between phases of my life, a massive transformation brewing. Titled ‘For Here or To Go’, the artwork in this setting at the S.Dot gallery represents the uncertainties of my life right now, in having to sometimes revise the ways I exhibit my cultural identity, and everyday micro-aggressions. As an Indian living in America a few months out of graduate school and in the workforce, I am constantly worried about visa issues and my different plans of action based on how circumstances may change. To have to sit with a constant sense of uncertainty is unsettling especially when it comes to making plans for the future, accepting later commissions or art shows, relationships, or job opportunities.
The lower level of the show is indicative of how a lot of Indian students and folks, in general go through our lives in America, sometimes not even buying furniture because we don’t know when our visas would get cancelled. The upper level, on the other hand, is laid out to depict my apartment here in America…my life in a nutshell, a paradox of sorts. While some pieces of my life has stayed on, the rest keeps changing…accelerating pain, power of self, and growth at the same time. The materials and art techniques chosen are outside my comfort zone with the rampant use of layers, mixed media, and portraiture that I don’t usually indulge myself in.
More information about S.Dot Gallery and Stephanie Rond here.
FOR HERE OR TO GO? Second Solo (miniature) Art Exhibition
Nalvaravu (Welcome)
In my culture, art is ubiquitous. Finely interspersed with our everyday lives, it never seemed as an a separate adoption of something I do for me, it was always just there. This is a South Indian ‘kolam’, a drawing made out of rice flour that you’d see at the thresholds of our homes. They’re meant to welcome people into our homes, and also serve as food for ants, and birds and signifies the concept of living in harmony with all other living beings. It’s the first thing women do in the morning, starting their days off with art. My grandmother draws intricate kolams to this day, an artist in her own right. This particular type of kolam is usually drawn as a watery-thin-paste and drawn using four fingers. To watch my elder women do this is one of the most graceful things I’ve ever seen, and so, here I am, welcoming you to this show, just like they taught me.
-Sold-
Two Songs and a Mood
Pen and ink on weaved cardstock, and used teabag, Mixed Media, 2019 | Sold
I can read, write, and speak three languages fluently, and speak two others conversationally. The two main languages I tend to switch between, and think are English and Tamizh, my mother tongue. I’ve frequently been made fun of for my accent or the ways I pronounce a few words. I don’t care about it as most of them have been in jest. However, sometimes I find myself wanting to say something in my language so I may viscerally convey myself to an American friend using all the perfect words…and it ends up being useless. I find it interesting and sometimes tiresome to switch between languages all the time. Sometimes, I really don’t want to translate.
This piece in particular is layered in being weaved with the two different languages, two different songs indicative of my mood as I made the piece. The Tamizh song is ‘Undhan desathin kural’ from Swades and the other is ‘Kitchen door’ by Wolf Larsen.
(Left) Lost Dates
Pen and ink, watercolors on Arches Watercolour paper, textured colour cardstock, and polaroid film holder, 2019
By now, I have no patience for those that consciously choose to turn a blind eye to cultural appropriation, especially as it applies to chai. While we're here, there is no such thing as 'Chai-tea'.
(Right) English-Vinglish
Pen and ink, watercolors on Arches Watercolour paper, textured colour cardstock, and polaroid film holder, 2019
"Just some everyday micro aggression. The woman in this illustration is inspired by the Tamizh pulp fiction comic style (this particular woman inspired by illustrator Shyam). Check it out sometime, it's snazzy. Also, 'otha' is the ubiquitous F-word in my language."
The Working Professional
Pen and Ink and watercolours on Arches watercolour sheet, Plastic sheet (Mixed media), 2019
What defines ‘formal’ or ‘professional’ in America to an Indian woman? Where I am from, sarees are formal and professional…but here, ‘ethnic’ doesn’t quite work. There is a tendency for immigrants in cultural wear to be viewed as folks who don’t know English, or incompetent because we don’t ‘know what professional wear’ means. I am still learning to navigate through this space— constantly at war in assimilating with this culture while also significantly staying with my cultural stance and identity.
Unapologetic
Pen and Ink and watercolors on Arches watercolor sheet, Mixed Media, 2019 | Sold
If you go read threads online, you’d see recurring comments by a lot of (American) men commenting on ‘hairy Indian women’. This is essentially me flipping them all off. If I want to shave, I will. If I choose to not do so, I won’t. My brownness is glorious, either way.
Home
Sharpies on sticky notes, mixed media, 2019
"With two decades of living in India, I was given a ‘home’, without any questions whatsoever. When I came to America, I had to build a ‘home’ for myself from scratch. As I navigate through my uncertainties, I am also experiencing the concept of having no home…or two homes? Either way, it’s a hard and nuanced place to be at."
The Alien Worker
Micron pens, watercolors on Artist Trading Card, 2019
Immigrant. Petition. Alien. Worker.
The visa application that would help me stay in this country 'Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker'. I guess anything can be viewed from an emotional and pragmatic point of view. While the logistics of borders, moving countries, flying with passports and the like is an extremely practical occurrence, I sometimes can’t help but notice how certain situations are framed in legal applications. ‘Alien Worker’ makes everything seem so temporary and distant, a battle to fit in, a reminder that one doesn’t ‘belong’ there. Navigating through paperwork, on that front, is not only a pragmatic and strategic battle but also an emotional one that makes one question if they feel welcome in another country. It’s particularly weird…because in India, ‘foreign alien immigrant workers’ are simply called ‘expatriates’.
From the Land of In-Betweens
Pen on Artist Trading card, 2019 | Permanent Collection S.Dot Gallery
(Above) From the Land of In-Betweens
I am now a confluence of two cultures. I stand out in both of them as the other, and find it increasingly hard to relate with folks on the other side. It's a time of immense growth but also a time of wandering as I find my place, who I am to those I love, and where I stand in their lives and cultural territory.
Madras to Columbus: A Representative Self-Portrait
Pen and ink, watercolors, and metal gold leaf on artists trading cards, A two part panel, 2019
This is a piece close to my heart, one tracing my journey in my transition moving from my city of Madras, to Columbus four years ago. The portrait is layered with hand-drawn maps of Columbus and Madras (Chennai) with the Bay of Bengal flowing in my saree.
This blue saree is also to remind myself of my mother (I wore her blue engagement saree for a photoshoot): despite our differences, we are actually very similar in many ways. As I transition at this point in my life, I am trying to be as kind as she is, as strong as she is, as vulnerable as she is, and as beautiful as she is. Foreign countries and cultures tend to diminish certain ‘relatable-ness’. I have seen it with a lot of my friendships. However, with my mother, I just see it bond…despite differences. Her saree is the connecting thread across all oceans and should I fall it, I shall gently be lifted and pulled ashore.
This one if for my loving family. And myself: reminding myself to love myself more.
Note: While a good lot of these are already sold, some of these pieces are still available. Shoot me an email at hemusketches@gmail.com if you’re interested in any of these pieces! :)