ਸ਼ੀਸ਼ੇ ‘ਚ ਤਰੇੜ | sheeshe ‘ch thareṛ | a crack in the mirror
April 29 to September 3, 2023, Art Gallery
This exhibition is a survey of multi-media work by artist Simranpreet Anand who has been deeply influenced by her experiences as a young Punjabi-Sikh Canadian. The exhibition includes works made in collaboration with ethnomusicologist and scholar Conner Singh VanderBeek.
Anand’s practice, indebted to familial and cultural community, engages materials and concepts drawn from the histories of Punjab and its diasporas. The title of the exhibition, sheeshe ‘ch thareṛ, captures the fissures emerging from the artist’s ongoing encounters with matter and material culture in our globalized world. The show opens with ਬੰਦੇ ਚਸਮ ਦੀਦੰ ਫਨਾਇ |bande chasm deedn fanaai (SGGS 723), a body of works that takes the synthetic, plastic-laden material culture that surrounds contemporary Sikh institutions as its starting point. Parallel to this series are works that consider the fabric of everyday life, attending to its embodied histories and gendered contexts of labour.
This exhibition was developed by the Reach Gallery Museum where it previously premiered. It is readapted for its PAMA presentation.
Guest curated by Sajdeep Soomal.
Simranpreet Anand, ਊਚ ਨੀਚ ਬਬਕਾਰ ਸੁਬਬਤ ਸੰਲਗਨ ਸਭ ਸੁਖ ਛਤਰ ॥ ਬਬਤਰ ਸਤਰੁ ਨ ਕਛੂ ਜਾਨੈ ਸਬਰ ਜੀਅ ਬਸਤ ॥ uooch neech bikaar sukirat sa(n)lagan sabh sukh chhatr || mitr satr na kachhoo jaanai sarab jeea samat || (detail), 2021, chandoa sahib, rihal, chaur sahib, plastic marigolds, plastic rose petals, white sheet, 9’ diameter x 10’ height.
Rachel Topham Photography
Clockwise from top left: Simranpreet Anand, ਬੈਠਕ (the blue room), 2021, photograph, 32 x 32” Image courtesy of the artist; Simranpreet Anand, from the series ਬਸੁੰਦਰ ਦਾ ਉਹੀ ਬਕਨਾਰਾ (at the same shore of the ocean) (detail), 2020, installation of six photographs and one single-channel colour video with sound. Image courtesy of the artist; Simranpreet Anand, ਮਾਲ ਕੈਮਾਣੈਰੂਪ ਕੀ ਸੋਭਾ ਇਤੁਬਬਧੀ ਜਨਮੁਗਵਾਇਆ॥ maal kai maanai roop kee sobhaa it bidhee janam gavaiaa || (detail), 2021, cardboard tubes, various synthetic fabrics, ashes, soot, charred and melted plastic, installation dimensions variable. Rachel Topham Photography; Simranpreet Anand, हमारेस्वाद की असलियत, insatiable desires of a bourgeoisie, 2021, natural dyes and colon, 78 x 48” each. Rachel Topham Photography;