Sharmila Samant: A Web of Stories

9 September - 18 October, 2008

In partnership with Centre A and the City of Mississauga Office of the Arts, and with the assistance of the Art Gallery of Mississauga and the Mississauga Central Library

Kathajaal: A Web of Stories will examine factors informing the return immigration of Indo-Canadians to India. Samant uses a multi-disciplinary approach, working in photography, installation and video.

Samant states, “The projects I undertake involve eclectic collecting, documenting and recycling of urban debris, looking at the mundane and the profane. The works critique the market forces that define the cultural and art practices of the peripheral nations and question how our identities, within the global set up, can be sustained via a hybridization of our culture.”

Haema Sivanesan, Executive Director of SAVAC states, “Sharmila Samant is a significant international artist, whose work is rigorous, politically engaged and socially informed. It is a privilege to host her visit to Toronto, and to have her develop a project with the South Asian community here”

Samant’s work has been included in major international exhibitions  and biennales including ”The Biennale of Sydney: Revolution – Forms that Turn” (2008); “Edge of Desire: Recent Art in India”, The Asia Society, New York, (touring, 2004 -2007); “Century City – Art and Culture in the Modern Metropolis”, The Tate Modern, London, (2001).

Sharmila Samant (b. 1967) is a major contemporary Indian artist living and working in Mumbai. Her work deals with issues of local identity within the context of globalization. Samant examines the homogenizing effect of commodification and consumer culture in relation to developing economies. Visiting Canada for the first time, Samant will undertake research with the Goan community in Toronto, Mississauga and Vancouver and develop an installation and artist book project titled “Kathajaal: A Web of Stories”.

Events

Meet the Artist
31 July, 2008. 6-8pm. Art Gallery of Mississauga

Project Incubator
1 - 18 August, 2008. Mississauga Central Library, 301 Burnhamthorpe Road West

The Sounds of the Silenced by Sharmila Samant
8 August, 2008. 7-9pm
Harbourfront Centre, 235 Queens Quay W., Toronto
A 90-minute video screening examining the twin problems of slum demolition in urban Mumbai and agrarian suicides in rural India revealing the government’s apathy towards the economically disadvantaged sectors of Indian society in the drive to promote foreign investment. This series of videos forms the background for Samant’s major installation, “Against the Grain” (2008) at The Biennale of Sydney: Revolutions – Forms That Turn (2008). A co-presentation with the Harbourfront Centre as part of South Asia Calling Festival 8-10 August, 2008

Artist talk
14 August, 2008. 7pm. Art Gallery of Mississauga
Executive Director, Hank Bull and Curator Makiko Hara from Centre A as well as Haema Sivanesan, Executive Director from SAVAC will be present to introduce the project and discuss their organizations. This program is specially supported by the Canada Council for the Arts Capacity Building Development Grants for Culturaly Divese Artists and Art Organizations.