Shifting Ground: An exploration into media art and cultural heritage

About

Recently there has been a rethinking of the importance of migrant voices within British Art History. First generation British South Asian artists like Anwar Jalal Shemza and Rasheed Araeen have been included in museum exhibitions globally and art history books are being rewritten and rethought. These changes make it possible for new conversations to take place - a new dialogue for the 21st Century around the legacy of South Asian migration and its impact on contemporary arts practitioners working in the UK today.

Using the National Gallery’s collection as a starting point for discussion, Shifting Ground invites a number of key media artists to present their work exploring identity, cultural heritage and migration. We will discuss how South Asian cultural heritage informs their artistic practice and how the use of new technologies enables them to work in innovative and groundbreaking ways. We will consider the impact and legacy that South Asian migration has had on contemporary British culture and celebrate the rich and diverse voices within the media art scene.

Shifting Ground is curated by Aphra Shemza who has the unique position of being a direct South Asian artist descendent and will be introduced by Priyesh Mistry, Associate Curator of Modern & Contemporary Projects, National Gallery with talks by Stuart Faromarz Batchelor, Prem Sahib, BISHI & Rehana Zaman.