sugar bound :: Suchitra Mattai

Published on the occasion of Suchitra Mattai’s exhibition, sugar bound, which was on view from August 30 though November 3, 2018 at the Center for Visual Art. sugar bound was organized by the Center for Visual Art, MSU Denver and was curated by Cecily Cullen, Director and Curator of CVA.

The Center for Visual Art is the off-campus contemporary art center for Metropolitan State University of Denver. CVA provides a year-round schedule of bold, contemporary exhibitions of both local significance and international reach, education programming open to the community and immersive workforce development for students in creative fields.

CVA was founded in 1990 to expose students to leading-edge art and to broaden MSU Denver’s art program. The non-profit art space makes an important contribution to visual art offerings available in Denver and the Rocky Mountain West, bringing in art that would not otherwise be seen here.

2

introduction Suchitra Mattai was born in Guyana, South America. Her great grandparents traveled the middle passage from India to Guyana in hope of building a better life. British colonists started the indentured servant system as a replacement for the free labor of slaves. After traveling far from her ancestral history to Canada and then the United States, Suchitra Mattai revisits the past in search of the meaning of home.

In her masterful exhibition sugar bound, Suchitra explores concepts of colonialism, indentured servitude, South Asian diaspora and the layered nuances of all three. She lifts the cover of history to reveal a more colorful, dark and complex reading of the recent past, specifically the period of time when laborers were brought from India to serve as indentured servants in the sugar fields of Guyana. In this body of work, she tips the hegemonic narrative on its side, questioning the true drive of colonialism and its ripple effect on successive generations.

In sugar bound, the viewer is immersed in Suchitra’s poetic works that animate our imaginations and awaken our memories. Referencing the specific narrative of her family history we see “The Coolie” woman displaced, the young immigrant girl, the lushness of the rainforest parted to reveal a dark past and the monkey witness. However, these powerful expressions of bondage, separation and disorientation resonate more broadly than to a particular experience alone.

Through scale and dynamic form, Mattai’s work sweeps the viewer into the realm of her perspective. In her large-scale installation Sugar water, we feel the disorientation of immigration, the loss of leaving and the nudge of memories we take along with us. In Bound, large plates of machined steel seem to vibrate from implied motion. With both ornate and industrial elements, the rusted and blade-sharp metal components of the sculpture are an apt reference to a system put in place to preference the privileged few at the expense of others. The idea of belonging, whether to a place or a culture, resonates throughout the exhibition in reference to the many depictions of landscape. From geographical elements to objects of domesticity, the imagery and materials that appear throughout this large body of work invite the viewer to both distant and intimate locales.

Upon first encountering Suchitra’s work, it takes one’s breath away. It is at once familiar and wholly new. Suchitra speaks a visual language that is her own, but with an immediacy that reaches audiences on a visceral level. It is through her fearless approach to materials and her brilliant development of concept that Suchitra captures our imaginations. With an inspired vocabulary she crafts the stories she tells and reveals her deep insight into history and humanity.

– Cecily Cullen

3

about the artist Suchitra Mattai is a multi-disciplinary artist who lives and works in Denver, Colorado. Suchitra was born in Guyana, South America, but has also lived in Halifax and Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Philadelphia, New York City, Minneapolis, and Udaipur, India. These diverse natural and cultural environments have greatly influenced her work and research. While her practice includes a wide range of materials and ideas, her primary interests include the complex relationship between the natural and artificial worlds and the questioning of historical and authoritative narratives, especially those surrounding colonialism.

Through painting, fiber, drawing, collage, installation, video, and sculpture, she weaves narratives of “the other,” invoking fractured landscapes and reclaiming cultural artifacts (often colonial and domestic in nature).

Suchitra received an MFA in painting and drawing and an MA in South Asian art, both from the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. She has exhibited her work in Philadelphia, New York City, Washington, DC, Minneapolis, Denver, Austin, London and Wales and her work has appeared in various publications such as Entropy Magazine, The Daily Serving, New American Paintings, and will be in a forthcoming book, A Collection of Contemporary Women’s Voices on Guyana, (Grace Anezia Ali, Brill Press). Recent and upcoming projects include projects with the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver and the Denver Art Museum, solo exhibitions at the Center for Visual Art, Metropolitan State University of Denver, Denver (2018), K Contemporary Art, Denver (2018) and grayDuck Gallery, Austin (2018) as well as group exhibitions with Pen and Brush (New York City, NY), the Lancaster Museum of Art and History (Lancaster, CA), the Center on Contemporary Art (Seattle), the Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute (New York City, NY) and a travelling exhibition with the Museum of the Americas (Washington, DC). She completed a residency at RedLine Contemporary Art and was recently nominated for a United States Artist Grant. She will be participating in the Sharjah Biennial 14 in 2019.

4

This page: Purity test, vintage bathtub, crocheted rope and trim, artificial plants, dimensions variable, 2018 Previous page, top to bottom: Sari-clad jouster (or why I was never good at sports), metal sheet, embroidery on vintage needlepoint, 40” x 40”, 2018 Awakenings, boxing gloves, metal sheet, 40” x 40”, 2018 Pappy’s house, thread, trim, metal sheet, 40” x 40”, 2018

5

This page, top to bottom: When you move from the tropics to Canada and experience your first snow as an immigrant, acrylic, fringe, faux hair, trim on patterned fabric, 39” x 29”, 2018 Sugar, vintage magazine, pen, vintage embroidery and oil on wood panel, 8” x 10”, 2018 Next page, clockwise from top left: Anxious one (before the fall), gouache, acrylic, magazine, 19th century prints on wallpaper, 28” x 20”, 2018 Leave no trace, 19th century colonial chart of colonized people on page from 19th century French textile book, 6” x 9”, 2018 The world as it is, vintage book and doily, homegrown sugar crystals, book shelf supports, dimensions variable, 2018 Hidden gem, gouache, acrylic, magazine, 19th century prints on wallpaper, 16” x 16”, 2018

6

7

This page, top to bottom: Calcutta, the monsoon revisited, gouache, acrylic, pencil on found early 19th century European print, 6” x 10”, 2018 The story’s been told, mixed media collage, 7” x 9”, 2018 In her absence, mixed media on wood panel, 11” x 14”, 2018 Next page, clockwise from top left: Lost (merry go round and banyan), gouache on found wallpaper, 28” x 20”, 2018 Ice jungle, mixed media collage on wood panel, 16” x 16”, 2018 Once remembered, gouache, magazine, 19th century print, 5” x 7”, 2018 Blur, gouache, 19th century print, magazine, appliqués, wallpaper, 19.7” x 37.4”, 2018

8

9

Bound This work considers the experience of the indentured servant, family legacies and the imprint of those who have come before. Metal panels from a vintage factory machine are bound and constricted by rope to suggest bondage. The negative white space acts as a portal between the past, present and future. The precarious placement of the work implies motion and reverberation via the imminent crashing of panels.

Bound, graphite, metal sheets, manila rope, 5’ x 3’ x 5’, 2018 10

11

Tropics

This page:

This work presents tropical scenes that expose dark and not-so-distant pasts. By integrating imagery into pre-existing patterns, found fabrics and embroidery, each work reveals new histories within the Western grand narrative. The bleeding building – a colonial prison – amid lush foliage in Salvation islands reveals dark secrets of violence and brutality.

Monkeys function as avatars for the colonial depiction of the “other”. The brown monkey confronts the viewer from the banyan tree, a symbol of prosperity and longevity, even in the face of disparity.

Next page, clockwise from top left:

12

Salvation islands, acrylic on printed fabric, 44” x 132”, 2018

The paucity of will (detail), acrylic and gouache on printed fabric, 48” x 48”, 2018 Self portrait as a shadow, acrylic on found fabric, 38” x 27.5”, 2018 Before me, acrylic, gouache and oil on printed fabric, 29” x 39.3”, 2018 Fading temple, thread on found fabric, 42” x 27.5”, 2018

13

Border crossings This work uses footage of a real border fence moving in opposite directions to suggest vague memories of nationhood and migration. A British colonial chair interrupts the film acting as a lens or screen. The placement of this object reflects the significant role of sugar in migrations, slavery and indentured servitude.

Memory, history, crossings, video, vintage cane chair, dimensions variable, 2018

14

Erasure In this work, stop-motion animation both connects and separates images of British and Indian countrysides. The movement between the two landscapes shows the similarities and differences between each location and considers how migration may influence the land, people and culture of a region. These disparate countries each affect the other with power at the core of the relationship.

Erasure, stop motion painted animation with 19th century prints, dimensions variable, 2018

15

Clearing This painting is based off of a composite of photos depicting deforested sections of the Amazon rainforest. Nearly 70 percent of Guyana is comprised of forest and the Amazon River is the barrier that separates Guyana from the rest of Latin America.

The painting’s translucent wash evokes fading memories of a past home and acts as a lament on the destruction of the rainforest that is cleared for lumber and commodities like sugar.

Clearing, mural painting, 30.1’ x 10.8’, 2018

16

17

Bound II Pipes form a barrier around vintage macramĂŠ, found needlepoint and thread. The arrangement of the pipes conceal sections of the work suggesting marginalization and stifled agency.

Bound II, mixed media installation, dimensions variable, 2018 18

A matter of course Woven from cloth of different origins, this work captures the legacy and confluence of dress, customs and festivals of the Caribbean – including Carnival.

The fusion of cloth expresses the syncretic culture of the region.

A matter of course, fabric, vintage sari on organic fence, 75” x 122”, 2018

19

Skin This work considers the complexity of skin color in the West Indies. Flasks of sugar represent the economic force that drove migration to the region.

Vintage encyclopedias subvert the hegemonic historical narrative. Together, they challenge our perceptions of color and emphasize the significant role of sugar in the colonial narrative.

Skin, mixed media installation, dimensions variable, 2018

20

21

This work considers the experience of the immigrant, the nomad, the bonded laborer and the slave.

Furniture is upended to suggest feelings of displacement, discomfort and dislocation. Slivers of landscape and beams of light projected unto this unsettling, yet magical, realm reference dreams and memories of a past home.

Sugar water This work considers the experience of the immigrant, the nomad, the bonded laborer and the slave. Furniture is upended to suggest feelings of displacement, discomfort and dislocation. Slivers of landscape and beams of light projected on to this unsettling, yet magical, realm reference dreams and memories of a past home.

Sugar water, mixed media installation, dimensions variable, 2018 22

23

Acknowledgements This exhibition was audacious and ambitious. It was made possible through a contract of trust between the artist and staff of the CVA. My admiration runs deep for the creativity, problem solving and intense focus of everyone involved.

My sincere thanks to Suchitra for sharing her vision and generous spirit with us.

Thank you to the student gallery assistants and staff of the CVA who’s hard work and dedication helped bring this exhibition to life. My gratitude goes to Jenna Miles, CVA Gallery Manager; student gallery assistants Dakota Ryans, Jolene Yazzie, Wyatt Scott, Audrey Twigg, Grace Gutierrez, Taryn Trussell, Kristen Smith and Cullen Toole; Talya Dornbush, CVA Education Director; Heather Link-Bergman, CVA Communications Manager and student marketing assistant, Emilie Luckett. Thank you to K Contemporary for championing the exhibition. And finally, a special thank you to all CVA members and sponsors who helped make this exhibition possible through their support. – Cecily Cullen The CVA gratefully acknowledges the following for their generous sponsorship: Jan and Fred Mayer Fund Marcia Gold Naiman Fund Campbell Foundation Fund BBVA Compass Foundation Colorado Creative Industries Denver Arts and Venues – Imagine 2020 Otten Johnson Robinson Neff + Ragonetti Delta Dental National Endowment for the Arts

Design: Heather Link-Bergman Photography: Wes Maygar Proofreading: Jenna Miles

First Edition Copyright 2018

25

$20.00