Khoj Khabar (Volume 4)

KHABAR v o l . 4 | j u ly 2 0 1 6 – d e c e m b e r 2 0 1 6

Note from the Khoj Fellow

“Often, when you pull Khoj’s gate shut at the end of a long day, it somehow feels like you’re leaving home to go back home. Perhaps it’s the camaraderie between people that work here in the midst of Khirki’s chaos, or the constant influx of individuals coming and going through its multiple corridors and stairwells that slowly, in time, become the faces of friends that makes Khoj feel both familiar and exciting at the same time.

When I first joined Khoj as a fellow in July 2016, I didn’t realise that the next six months would be one of the most formative periods of my life so far -- both in professional and personal terms. I’ve had the opportunity to work with the curatorial team on a series of projects that span the breadth of Khoj’s program of events; be it watching Sitara and Mario transform Khoj’s studios into a multisensory audio-visual space for the ‘Frozen World’ exhibition or seeing Radha’s refugee handbook collaboration come to life, it has been fascinating to see innovative ideas being formed and shaped into reality. As a fellow, I was provided with ample opportunities to not only participate in, but more uniquely, lead projects independently, specifically with the Google Cultural Institute -curating and composing exhibits that delved deep into the archive at Khoj, creating stories that at once told the story of Khoj through the artists that have been an integral part of its development in the last twenty years. A large part of being a fellow at Khoj is, as Sitara said when I interviewed for the position on a hot summer’s day, simply watching and learning from the team and the artistsin-residence in a hands-on way, and seeing in the process, how art happens.

At Khoj, it feels like anything is possible – an artist can transform an entire building into a maze that inches upwards to the sky like a vine constructed of nothing but doors, only to have it taken down in a matter of days as if it never existed in the first place.

Things adapt, evolve, and unfold in the span of days, if not weeks – accepting and learning that change can be a creatively engaging and pleasurable process has been a lesson that has been a big part of my own personal development at Khoj. I am grateful to have had this opportunity, and wouldn’t trade it for a thing in the world.

Sukaina Husain