Home Ground by Saju Kunhan

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TARQ is delighted to present Saju Kunhan’s second solo show at the gallery, Home Ground. In this exhibition Saju continues to explore themes of migration and displacement through his method of image transfers on teak wood. Also featured in this exhibition for the first time, are the artist’s works on paper. This body of work investigates the more personal side of Saju’s practice, representing his ancestral home and the multiple migrations undertaken by his family.

Stemming from a belief that history is a collection of memories, Saju plumbs the memories of his ancestors to create works that chart his family’s past of migration, displacement, colonialism and conquest. Through his engravings on remnants of red oxide flooring from his ancestral home in Palakkad, Kerala, Saju reflects on the history of his family via the oral narratives shared with him by the previous generations of his family.

Though these works are intensely personal, they represent the existence of a larger community. Blurring the lines between personal and public, myth and history, fact and fiction Saju continues to use maps and macquettesmaquettes to represent the imagined settlements of his ancestors while also paying homage to the refugees currently sheltering in the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan and the systematic deforestation of the Amazon forestAmazon Forest.

As described by Saju, “I am connecting my works to the politics & power as well as the environmental concerns. What I believe is that whatever happens today there must be a link connected to the past. So, my works are connecting the past and present through concept and methodology.”

This exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue essay written by Skye Arundhati Thomas and will also be a part of this year’s edition of Mumbai Gallery Weekend.