In this solo exhibition by Sadia Fakih, colourful and intricately detailed collage-drawings explore cultural hybridity, displacement, intersectionality, and the Surreal. Semi-autobiographical, the pieces delve into the idea of an alter-ego and of personal mythology building, expressing the artist’s place (or displacement) as a South Asian feminine in the West. She explores the transitional spaces that erupt when imposing identities collide. Here, mythological hybrids are depicted in liminal spaces using imagery taken from different cultural legacies. These include art history references from the Western art canon and classical Indo-Persian miniature painting. The intention is to complicate conventions, break hierarchies and resist a West vs. East binary view. In some works, the main character may be identified as an alter-ego of the artist, named Meena (a reference to a classic Bollywood actress). In other works, there may be composite creatures existing. But in all the works, whether of creatures, plant life, body parts, planets, or of “Meena” herself, there is a re composition or hybridity (a “chimerical” process), and a metamorphosis or transmutation (an “alchemical” process) taking place. Curated by Sierra Zukowski. On view in the Esplanade Art & Heritage Gallery Foyer from December 20 to February 21!
