Title

Zarina weaving memory.

Venues

Bodhi art. (19 January 2007 – 2007)

Date

(2007)

Summary

Single-artist exhibition. Located: India

Country of context

India

Abstract

Zarina, a New York-based artist, is not only at the forefront of Indian contemporary art, she is also one of its leading practitioners in the medium of printmaking. Using barely a line or a symbol together with flowing calligraphic script written in her mother tongue Urdu, she creates a world that speaks in minimal gestures. The exploration of memory and place are central to Zarina’s investigations and she draws upon a lifetime’s recollection of experiences that manifest as floor plans of homes she has lived in around the world from India to the United States, maps of countries she has inhabited at some point in time, letters written her by her sister from their shared childhood home at Aligarh, and more. Her more recent works explore a larger terrain of global politics and the inter-cultural violence and social injustice that defines it. From Sarajevo to New York and the events of 9/11, the artist draws upon her visual vocabulary of symbols to describe a landscape of loss and despair.    

Such is the universal appeal of Zarina’s work, that she has been exhibited in solo and group shows in prestigious venues in India, the United States, Singapore and throughout Europe. Her works are in prominent collections worldwide and she has been included in seminal anthologies and publications on multiculturalism and women artists. 

The 18 portfolios that comprise Weaving Memories covers a span of 16 years and lends insight to the work of this seminal artist and further reveals a trajectory of concerns that range from the personal to the political. [Bodhi Art, exhibition blurb].