Swapnaa Tamhane: No Surface is Neutral.
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Surrey Art Gallery 13750 88 Ave, Surrey, British Columbia V3W 3L1
![Swapnaa Tamhane, "Mobile Palace (detail of insallation)," 2019-2021 Swapnaa Tamhane, "Mobile Palace (detail of insallation)," 2019-2021](https://www.gallerieswest.ca/downloads/30679/download/Swapnaa.jpg?cb=fe3ce3904eb4ecae43a343a73e430a50&w={width}&h={height})
Swapnaa Tamhane, "Mobile Palace (detail of insallation)," 2019-2021
natural dyes and applique on cotton. Photo Paul Eekhoff, ROM.
Fall Opening and Artist Talk: Saturday, September 23 | 6:30−9:00 p.m.
Swapnaa Tamhane’s work challenges the colonial hierarchical separation between art, craft, and design in India. Her artworks include sweeping textile installations where space is transformed by fabric, colour, and light, and works on handmade paper. They harness different moments in India’s artisanal histories related to decolonization and freedom as a way to reflect on the presence and relevance of these themes today.
Textiles in India carry the weight of imperial, colonial, and nationalist histories in their fibres. Cotton has shaped India’s ancient trade, provided the impetus for India’s colonization, and was a powerful political symbol leading to liberation from colonial rule. In this exhibition, artist Swapnaa Tamhane explores the material and conceptual resonances of cotton through the manipulation and treatment of surfaces. Through this process, she pushes against colonial ideas and their contemporary manifestations.
The exhibition features two bodies of work displayed side by side. The first include textile works made in collaboration with artists in western India from the Kutch region. They are arranged in sweeping architectural forms that reference the Mughal and Ottoman shamiana (imperial tent), industrial textile production, and the shimmering mirrored walls of mud homes, layered with motifs from mid-century modern architecture by Le Corbusier in Ahmedabad, India. The second body of work includes drawings on paper handmade by Tamhane from khadi (hand-spun coon cloth) that has been deconstructed to its base fibres and reconstituted. In these works, drawing can take any form of markmaking—from pencil or ink on paper to folding, crumpling, and mixing paper pulps even before the paper has dried.
Tour and Talk with Deepali Dewan and T’ai Smith: Thursday, October 12 | 6:30−8:30 p.m.
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![surrey_art_gallery_logo_with_tagline_magenta.png surrey_art_gallery_logo_with_tagline_magenta.png](https://www.gallerieswest.ca/downloads/7027/download/surrey_art_gallery_logo_with_tagline_magenta.png?cb=45e377e71e8f59c2d5a02b2c5d81980f&w={width}&h={height})