14

2017

Indian and Western dresses, suitcase, fishing wire, projector

Installation

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14—referring to the number of dresses used to make the installation as well as the age I moved from India to Canada—aims to depict the sense of nostalgia I felt for a culture that I left behind when I immigrated to Canada. I chose to use clothes as my medium, as apart from food and idols of religious deities, clothes are the only cultural objects that we brought with us when we moved, and I was struck by the stagnant state of them as they have just sat there for years, packed in the same bag we brought them in. The absence of the opportunity to wear them as a girl coming of age in India haunts me as they speak of a culture that I grew up in, but never fully got to become a part of as a teenager and an adult, as well as the experiences I wasn’t able to have with my friends back home while growing up. Instead, my identity has slowly been overtaken by western ideals in an attempt to blend in with the culture in Canada. For me, the work is nostalgic and haunting, all at once.

 

Description

 

The work consists of 7 western dresses that hang from the ceiling, and the shadows (images of shadows) of 7 Indian dresses projected  on a wall. As the light from the overhead projector hits the hanging dresses, it creates 7 more shadows of the hanging western dresses, that intermingle with the existing projected image. In the centre of the installation, on the floor, lies the suitcase that my family and I brought with us from India, filled with 7 Indian dresses whose shadows are being projected on the screen. The audience is invited to interact with the suitcase as they like.

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