Outside In: Indian Art Abroad

Outside In

Indian Art Abroad Dec 18, 2009 – Feb 20, 2010 Sun Valley Center for the Arts

Outside In Indian Art Abroad

Outside In: Indian Art Abroad December 18, 2009 – February 20, 2010 Sun Valley Center for the Arts

In the past decade, India has occupied an increasingly important place in the American imagination. The boom in the Indian economy, its role as a global leader in technology, controversy surrounding U.S. outsourcing to India and the complex political relationship between India and Pakistan have all given the nation a prominent role in U.S. newspapers and newscasts. Simultaneously, India’s literature, films and visual arts have enjoyed ever-growing popularity around the world. • This multidisciplinary project explores the arts of India through the work of Indian artists, writers and filmmakers working primarily outside India. It focuses on the intersection between Indian and Western traditions in the lives of the members of the South Asian diaspora—the cultural clashes as well as the syntheses that occur when one moves between traditions and geographies. What does it mean to be Indian when living abroad?

Images from left: Baseera Khan, Saag Dreams, 2007, acrylic ink and enamel spray paint on paper, courtesy of the artist and Hosfelt Gallery, San Francisco, New York; Gauri Gill, Woman worker at Sunsweet prune packing factory, Yuba City, California, 2002, archival digital print from color negative, courtesy of the artist and Bose Pacia, New York; Sutapa Biswas, still from Magnesium Bird, 2004, DVD, courtesy of the artist; Annu Palakunnathu Matthew, Traditional American Indian Mother and Child / Traditional Indian American Mother & Stepchild, 2001, inkjet on Concorde rag, courtesy of the artist and sepiaEYE, New York; Gay Bawa Odmark, Roots of the Lotus, 2006, monotype, etching and chine-collé, courtesy of the artist

Visual Arts / The Center, Ketchum Gauri Gill’s project, The Americans, shows Indian immigrants in their U.S. lives. Her photographs defy many common stereotypes about Indian residents of the United States. • The child of Indian immigrants, Baseera Khan grew up in a suburb of Dallas, Texas. Her work explores the role of internationalism in her life, including her experience of Indian culture as a visitor to India and a participant in an immigrant community in Dallas. She blends visual motifs from Indian and American popular culture as well as traditional Indian artistic practices. • Photographer Annu Palakunnathu Matthew was born in the United Kingdom, raised in India, and now lives in the United States. Her photographic project An Indian from India consists of satirical costumed self-portraits that she pairs with reproductions of 19th and early-20th century portraits of Native Americans by photographers like Edward Curtis. • Born in India, Sutapa Biswas’s family moved to the United Kingdom, where she still lives, when she was a child. A painter and filmmaker, her work moves between fantasy and reality, creating psychologically charged ­scenarios that probe

issues of gender, colonialism and the diaspora.

• Outside In also includes a small exhibition organized by the Pacific Asia Museum focused on the Hindu deity Ganesha, the Remover of Obstacles. Discovering Ganesha explores the deity through materials ranging from centuries-old sculptures to photographs and a video documenting a contemporary festival honoring the god.

Gallery WalkS

Wed, Dec 30 and Fri, Feb 12, 5–8pm Join us for drinks and appetizers as you view the exhibition.

Exhibition Tour

Tue, Feb 9 at 2pm and by arrangement Trained docents offer new insight into the artwork on display in free tours of our exhibitions.

Special Evening Exhibition Tours

Thu, Jan 14 and Thu, Feb 18, 5:30pm Enjoy a glass of wine while you tour Outside In with The Center’s curators and docents.

The Center, Hailey

Gay Bawa Odmark: Reinventing Indian Traditions

The Center, Hailey December 4, 2009 – April 2, 2010 Longtime Wood River Valley resident Gay Bawa Odmark was born in Lahore and spent part of her childhood in Calcutta before her family left India at the height of the violence that followed the country’s partition. She has spent her life moving between the United Kingdom, the United States and India. A highly accomplished photographer, painter and printmaker, she creates work that draws on her memories and experience of India as well as her studies of Hindu mythology and Indian history. The exhibition at The Center, Hailey, features pieces that explore themes such as the god Ganesha, the symbolism of the lotus and the tradition of painting hands and feet with henna.

Opening Celebration

Fri, Dec 4, 5:30–7pm Join us for drinks and Indian appetizers to ­celebrate the opening. The artist will speak about her work at 6 pm.

Special Evening Artist Talk

Thu, Mar 4, 5:30pm Enjoy a glass of wine while you tour Gay Bawa Odmark: Reinventing Indian Traditions with the artist.

Gay Bawa Odmark Reinventing Indian Traditions

Film / Classes Bollywood Film Night Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge

Thu, Jan 28, 6pm Liberty Theatre, Hailey $5 members/ $8 nonmembers One of the biggest Bollywood hits of all time, Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (The Lover Will Take the Bride) is also the longest running film in the history of Indian cinema. It tells the story of a romance between Raj Malhotra and Simran Kaur, both second generation Indians living in England, with deep Indian values. Simran’s arranged marriage plans are put in turmoil when she falls in love with Raj on a trip to Europe with friends. The film’s soundtrack is wildly popular, as are its scenes of lavish Indian wedding preparations.

Drinks and appetizers will be available for purchase.

Brown Bag Lunch Meditation, Yoga and Ayurvedic Healing with Ryan Redman and Tona Leiseth

Fri, Jan 8, 12-1pm The Center, Ketchum Free Grab your lunch and come learn about these ­Indian healing traditions from local ­­practitioners. Both have done in-depth training in the United States and India and have active practices in the valley. Find out the hows, whats and whys of these traditions­—and enjoy brief demos for a different take on your lunch break.

Teen Workshop The Art and History of Henna Tattoo

Sat, Jan 9, 10am–4pm The Center, Hailey $10 pre-registration This class will cover the traditional art of meh’ndi from beginning to end. Students will be introduced to the history and traditions of this art form while also learning tattoo safety, basic mixing and application techniques, color, longevity, traditional/modern designs and henna aftercare and storage. Students will have the opportunity to practice on themselves or on a partner in the class. Henna tattoos are temporary and last from one to three weeks.

Adult Class Indian Cooking: Perfecting the Curry with Gay Bawa Odmark

Sun, Jan 24, 3:30pm Gay Bawa Odmark’s home $95 members / $145 nonmembers Bring India to your home with this introductory class to Indian cuisine. If you’ve been wanting to try making Indian curries for the first time, this is the class for you! Students are asked to bring a knife, cutting board and beverage.

Family Day Outside In: Indian Art Abroad

Sat, Jan 30, 3–5pm The Center, Ketchum Free Visit The Center in Ketchum and explore the vibrant country of India. Families will have an opportunity to tour the exhibition while also participating in a number of Indian-inspired activities such as sari tying, dance, traditional folklore and printmaking.

Images from left: film still from Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge; Ragamala Dance; Sir Salman Rushdie, photo courtesy Beowulf Sheehan-PEN American Center; mailer: Ganesha, India, 11th c., red sandstone, Pacific Asia Museum Collection, Estate of Harold and Jane Ullman, 1991.67.9; cover: Shana Dressler, Untitled, Mumbai, India, 2004, photographic print, courtesy of the artist.

Performing Arts / Humanities Lecture Ragamala Dance

Fri, Jan 15, 7:30pm Community Campus, Hailey $25 members / $35 nonmembers / $10 kids 18 & under Rooted in Bharatanatyam, a classical dance form from southern India, Ragamala blends dance, music and poetry. Old forms are used in new ways to retain the past, enhance the present and inspire the future. Striving to push Bharatanatyam beyond the boundaries of cultural specificity while maintaining its authenticity, Ragamala has crafted a new intercultural dance framework that is uniquely contemporary. Ragamala will also be doing a school residency and master classes in the Wood River Valley.

Sir Salman Rushdie

Thu, Feb 11, 7pm Limelight Room, Sun Valley $30 members / $40 nonmembers Raised in India and Pakistan and educated in England, Sir Salman Rushdie is one of the most celebrated and controversial authors and critics of our time. His novel The Satanic Verses provoked a fatwa (religious edict) by Ayatollah Khomeini calling for his death, as a result of which he spent nearly a decade “underground,” seldom appearing in public. A leading proponent for free speech, Rushdie was knighted by the British government in 2007.

www.sunvalleycenter.org • 208.726.9491 Mon–Fri, 9–5, Sats in Feb 11–5 • 191 Fifth Street East, Ketchum Wed–Fri, NOON–5 • 314 South Second Ave, Hailey Exhibitions in The Center’s galleries are always free and open to the public.

This project has been generously supported by The Paul G. Allen Family Foundation.

Sun Valley Center for the Arts P O Box 656 Sun Valley, ID 83353

NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION

U S POSTAGE

PAID

BOISE ID

PERMIT NO. 679