This week we welcome multidisciplinary artist Suchitra Mattai, and celebrate her recently opened exhibition, “We are nomads, we are dreamers,” at Queens’ Socrates Sculpture Park. The exhibition consists of newly commissioned works celebrating the migratory oceanic journeys of past, present, and future diasporic communities. (Epicenter was fortunate to have Mattai as a panelist in our program during Miami Art Week last year.)
Inspired by the park’s position along the East River, which flows into the Atlantic Ocean, this exhibition features a series of soft sculptures made from vintage saris collected from women of the South Asian diaspora. The exhibition’s title reflects upon transatlantic migration experiences, including Mattai’s ancestors, who traveled from India to British Guiana (now Guyana) as indentured laborers in the early twentieth century, as well as the artist’s own personal migrations.
At the center of the Park, six futuristic pods, reminiscent of continental forms, emerge from the landscape, reflecting the dynamic interplay of the shifting sky and ecology. Draped in vibrantly colored saris, meticulously hand-woven together, these monumental forms transcend static existence, subtly evolving and adapting within their waterfront ecosystem.
Here, new living beings and elements like sun, rain, and wind interact with the textiles, enriching the pre-existing lives embedded in the saris, which carry the memories of the women who wore them. These artifacts from the “future” serve as an ever-evolving testament to the human experience of migration and adaptation—a monument to the journey of becoming.
Nearby, a series of seven hanging sculptures adorn the grove of trees, reflecting on notions of femininity and fertility. At the south entrance of the park, the Broadway-style billboard features a thirty-foot collage by Mattai. Organized in collaboration with Barkha Dance Company, dance performances will activate the exhibition on June 12, July 18, and August 25.
“We are nomads, we are dreamers” was curated by Kaitlin Garcia-Maestas, curator and director of exhibitions at Socrates Sculpture Park.