Upcoming Exhibition & Other News
Dear readers,
Happy New Year! I am writing to call your attention to an upcoming exhibition opening on January 12th:
Rituals of Recursion opens on Sunday, January 12th at 1 PM @spill_____180 (in Red Hook, Brooklyn) and will feature a poetic activation by Sai Priya Kodidala of @theteluguarchive .
More about the exhibition:
I developed a computer program that allows me to translate text into Kolam (Tamil) or Muggu (Telugu) designs. I started working with kolams/muggus because I wanted to translate my grandmother’s name, Swarajyalaxmi, into a kolam as part of a reclamation of a mourning ritual after her passing in 2022. My family mourned my grandmother by invoking three generations following a patriarchal line (my grandmother, her mother-in-law, and her mother-in-law’s mother-in-law). In contrast, I worked matrilineally, creating three kolams representing Swarajyalaxmi, Kameswaramma (her mother), and Rajyalaxmi (her grandmother). I draw the kolams signifying their names while simultaneously playing audio from an interview with her a month before she passed away at age 101. The audio shows how my grandmother’s name signifies independence in the colonial context, and the interview also highlights her resilience in the face of patriarchal oppressions such as being married at age twelve.
In this exhibition, I expand on this work by incorporating new letterpress printed works created using a set of 3D-printed kolam monotype blocks. There are kolams for my grandmother, her mother, and her grandmothers but I also include letterpress prints that extend beyond familial connections. There are kolams commissioned by friends honoring their loved ones, kolams honoring martyrs, specific places, and some that feature messages of resilience and resistance. In these works, I see the act of translation as a ritual of reverence. Each kolam becomes an invocation and an offering. I invite all to spend time with each kolam and decode its meaning.
Together, these works explore the recursive nature of identity: names containing histories and personal stories intertwining with collective memory.
The opening kind of coincides with Sankranti so we are going to be serving pongal. (And who knows maybe we will try and fly a kite in January 😂) It will also coincide with Pioneer Works’ Second Sundays, so you can make the most of your trip to Red Hook.
Anddd I will be selling prints to raise funds for Gaza.
The second thing I would like to call your attention to is that I am officially seeking work opportunities. So if you know of any (ideally full-time) openings please pass on the information. I’m also happy to elaborate more on what I’m looking for and my background — just send me an email. And thank you to anyone that has shared opportunities and/or collaborated with me in the past. I’m super grateful to my community! <3
And as always, thank you for reading. Hope you had a sweet end to 2024!
In gratitude,
Aarati