Artists
Alia Syed │ Amba Sayal-Bennett │ Munem Wasif │ Shiraz Bayjoo │ Sumakshi Singh
Exhibition Dates
15-23 December 2023
Venue
Excise Building, Serendipity Arts Festival, Panjim, Goa
Supported by
Curatorial Research Fellowship 2023 granted by Art South Asia Project in collaboration with Serendipity Arts Foundation and supported by Faizal & Shabana Foundation.
Courtesy
Jhaveri Contemporary, Mumbai; Project 88, Mumbai; Exhibit 320, New Delhi.
With special thanks to Sofia Karim, Architect and Activist, London.
Press
TAKEpick (18 Dec 2023)
ASAP Art (22 Dec 2023)
The Eight Foundation (25 Dec 2023)
The Chakkar (11 April 2024)
Links
Art South Asia Project
Serendipity Arts Festival
Talk
For full details of Participating Artists and Works, CLICK HERE
The nights will follow the days is premised on the story of the haunting reappearance of a woman who allegedly returns to her home numerous times much after her passing. She finally returns for one last time before the house she used to inhabit—a link, a refuge, an emotion, an association, an identity—was demolished. Taking this as a metaphor, the exhibition navigates across themes of spectral memories and narratives associated with spaces, places, lands and oceans. Through the works of five artists, it further explores personal truths, displaced generational memories and histories affected by colonialism, migration and political landscapes—enabling a return to a place of remembrance and imagination.
A STORY
One evening, was like any other. The skies, a heavy blue-black. As the day slowly faded into the sea on the horizon, and dusk settled in, white tube lights illuminated the house, a yellow lamp and incense were lit, attracting and repelling a host of buzzing insects louder than the ceiling fan and the murmur of the television. As the lizards scurried on the wall, frogs croaked in the courtyard, dogs barked in the distance—a whiff of kane fish curry and boiled rice floated in with the warm, humid air. My uncle wistfully recalled his childhood, his life, as he stepped out for his daily walk, a routine. On his way, he noticed an old woman he had never seen before, ambling her way up the staircase of the neighbouring house, to the terrace. The land had been sold; soon, he would leave his ancestral home behind. To be demolished.
This evening was like any other. The neighbouring house, the only other house in the vicinity, having been transformed into a bar and restaurant, accommodated a variety of flavours and emotions—now abuzz with laughter overpowering old Kannada tunes on the radio and a cricket match on the television. The smell of alcohol combined with chicken sukka, marwai gassi and rice rotti floated in the warm, humid air. The land had been acquired; soon, they would leave this ancestral home behind. To be demolished.
Or, perhaps this evening, was unlike any other. A few attempts later, if memory did not fail her, she intended yet again to return to her home. After a long journey, as the light faded at the close of day and lights came on at the beginning of night, alone, she arrived limp and frail, knowing it to be her home. She slowly ambled her way up the staircase to the terrace of what was now a bar and restaurant, abuzz with flavours and emotions. This land had now been inherited, occupied, transformed, sold, acquired; perhaps, this was her last visit. Before her home is demolished.
The uncle is returning home after his walk. As he draws closer, a cacophony of faint voices overpowers loud laughter, old Kannada tunes and the cricket match. He looks in its direction, up the staircase of the neighbouring house, at a small crowd of people gathered around the old woman. Curious. Enquiring. Bothered. Wondering: Name? Address? Identity?
This is my land… this here, is my home… I live here… I belong here! This belongs to me!
From the crowd of people, the uncle and another man, having lived in the neighbourhood longer than the others, leaned in to take a closer look at the agitated old woman. She looked up, straight at them. In that moment, a nod, a knowing smile. In that moment, the weight of recognition; a recollection; a remembrance; an evocation; a rememory—freezing, as humid air closed in.
It was in 1992, twenty five years before this evening, that she had passed away in her bedroom under the very terrace. Having lived in a hostile society, a life of trials and tribulations, childless: she was angry, defiant, spiteful, resenting, sorrowful, alone; holding onto reality through the little she was left with. Like for countless others, her home was like a shell that respired, held, broke; a space of desire, dreams, comfort, security, consolation, devotion; a place of feelings, emotions, confinement, solitude, belonging—that she perhaps promised to return to. And so she has, over the years, numerous times—through conversations, community stories, family histories, personal recollections, bodies. She is returning through me to you, as I write and you read this account. She will, again and again and again, to her place of remembrance and imagination.
The ancestral homes now stand obliterated—a link, a refuge, an emotion, an association, an origin, an identity, erased. In the day, the land is inhabited by tall, dry wilderness; at night, spectres consume traces of memory.
The nights will follow the days, and the days will follow the nights.
~ Shalmali Shetty
~~~
ASAP x SAF CRF 2023
Art South Asia Project (ASAP) and Serendipity Arts Foundation have partnered for the first time to support a curatorial fellowship programme for a diasporic South Asian curator living in the UK. The primary aim of this program is to establish cross-continental connections between South Asia and the UK, which will facilitate the exchange of knowledge and the growth of research fields in both the regions.
This year, Shalmali Shetty was selected as the inaugural fellow for this programme, which is designed to offer a unique opportunity for the fellow to develop their research interests and curatorial vision. The aims of the programme are to encourage the selected fellow to develop a research project and curate an exhibition that reflects their research findings. This initiative also provides the selected curator with a platform to showcase their work, broaden their professional network, and contribute to the cultural exchange between South Asia and the UK.
The Project is supported by the Faizal & Shabana Foundation.
Art South Asia Project (ASAP) Ltd is an arts education and development UK based non-for-profit. It supports initiatives to widen and deepen the engagement with modern and contemporary visual and applied arts through South Asia and its diaspora.
Linked Events
Talk: The nights will follow the days
Shalmali Shetty in conversation with Mala Yamey (Head of Programs, ASAP); Saturday, 16th December 2023, 2:30-3:30 p.m.; ESG Auditorium, Panjim, Goa
Culmination Talk
Nour Aslam (Executive Director, ASAP) and Smriti Rajgharia (Director, SAF) in conversation with Shalmali Shetty (Selected Fellow), moderated by Mala Yamey (Head of Programs, ASAP); Friday, 9th February 2024, 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.; Frieze, No. 9 Cork Street, London
Acknowledgements
ASAP Team: Nour Aslam, Mala Yamey
Serendipity Team: Smriti Rajgarhia, Priyanka Tagore, Prachi Venkataraman, Prarthana Tagore, Nandita Jaishankar, Adreeta Chakraborty
Tech Team: Abhishek Mehta, Jacqueline Fernandes, Dharmesh, Linus, Dennis, Javier, Preethi, Satyender, Dinesh and Digambar (taxi)
Volunteers: Khushi Mittal, Snehil, Twinkle, Firuza Rodrigues and others
Documentation: Philippe Calia, Sunil Thakkar
Special thanks to Faizal E. Kottikollon and Shabana Faizal.
Mentors, Academics, Curators and Artists (UK): Nusrat Ahmed (Manchester Museum), Emily Hannam (V&A London), Sona Dutta (ASAP Board), Krittika Sharma (Indigo+Madder), Veeranganakumari Solanki (Curator), Alina Khakoo (Researcher), Aman Aheer (Artist), Shezad Dawood (Artist), and Sofia Karim (Artist & Activist).
Artists and Galleries: Amba Sayal-Bennet, Alia Syed, Munem Wasif (Project 88), Shiraz Bayjoo (Jhaveri Contemporary), Sumakshi Singh (Exhibit 320)
A massive thanks to my father for the title, and family for their support.
Friends Najrin Islam, Khushboo, Ulrika Krishnamurti and Gaurav Gupta for their help in London.
SHALMALI SHETTY 