In The Presence Of Longing

Duluth Art Institute, Duluth – Minnesota

Solo Show-Multimedia Installation, October’21 – December’21

Medium: Neon lettering in Marathi, moving image projection, glass, water, reflection, paper maché and other mixed media

A reflection on the ‘hybrid: real + fictional’ state in which one finds themselves when transitioning between places and cultures. When access to ‘home’ is forbidden, how does a person create a romantic human geography around them, in a new environment? Especially for people experiencing migration, what grounds the in-between state? ‘In The Presence of Longing’  proposes ‘fiction’ as a tool to ground oneself in the state of hybridity. Objects and moments from a hyper memory from a cultural past come to life as we juxtapose these objects and moments onto our new, mundane reality, thus instilling in us a sense of comfort and ‘home’.

Images by Samantha Rickner