Growing Like A Tree

Ishara Art Foundation presents Growing Like A Tree curated by Sohrab Hura, an exhibition that looks at regional histories of image-making through a visual and sonic excavation of place, memory and culture.

Referencing the interconnected spheres of contemporary artistic practice, this show considers photography as a locus in an expanded field of art that includes videos, books and sound installations. Hura’s individual and collective journeys through photography and moving image over the years have presented both a form of rooting and uprooting of places as markers of identity. Through this exhibition, he maps a network of past and present collaborators with 14 artists and collectives from Bangladesh, Cambodia, Germany, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan and Singapore, seeking to expand the framework of boundaries set out by the geographical context of South Asia. Together they create a space where multiple voices and experiences are brought into dialogue with one another, capturing dualities in which organic growth is matched with resource extraction, the archival is juxtaposed with the contemporary, and the magic of the mundane is seen through children’s eyes.

The ensemble of artists and collectives in the exhibition includes Aishwarya Arumbakkam, Anjali House, Bunu Dhungana, Farah Mulla, Jaisingh Nageswaran, Katrin Koenning, Munem Wasif, Nida Mehboob, Nepal Picture Library, Reetu Sattar, Sarker Protick, Sathish Kumar, Sean Lee, Yu Yu Myint Than, and a citation of Dayanita Singh along with site-specific interventions by Sohrab Hura.

Photo: Sean Lee, from the series ‘Two People’.

Growing Like A Tree: Essay by Sohrab Hura

Artist Biography

(b.1988) is an artist from Chennai, India, currently based in Austin, Texas.

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The Sanskrit word ‘anjali’ translates to ‘offerings’ in English. Anjali House is a house of offerings for over 200 children from poor families in Siem Reap, Cambodia.

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Bunu Dhungana is an artist based in Kathmandu, Nepal. She uses photography as a medium to explore and question the world around her.

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Farah Mulla (b. 1988) is a multimedia artist based in Mumbai. Her background in science overlaps with her art practice to explore the perception of sound and its effects on human neurology and subjectivity.

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Jaysingh Nageswaran is a self-taught photographer from Madurai, Tamil Nadu. Born dyslexic to working-class parents, he was taught by his grandmother at home, and went on to do his Masters in Mass Communication.

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Katrin Koenning (b. 1978) is an artist from the German Ruhrgebiet, currently based in Naarm, Melbourne Australia.

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Munem Wasif (b. 1983) is a photographer based in Dhaka, Bangladesh. His photography and film investigate complex social and political issues with a humanistic language, by getting close to the people, both physically and psychologically, and dealing with multiple questions and contradictions.

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Nepal Picture Library (NPL) is a digital photo archive run by photo.circle that strives to create a broad and inclusive visual archive of Nepali social and cultural history.

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Nida Mehboob is a photographer & filmmaker based in Lahore, Pakistan. She graduated as a pharmacist and went on to pursue photography.

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Reetu Sattar (b.1981) works between Dhaka and Berlin with an interdisciplinary practice that encompasses live performance, documentation and objects as archival memories in an effort to re-examine history and human perception.

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Sarker Protick (b. 1986) is a photographer based in Dhaka, Bangladesh. His practice combines the roles of an image-maker, a teacher and a curator.

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Sathish Kumar (b.1986) is a freelance photographer based in Chennai, India. A large part of his school vacations growing up were spent at his uncle’s photo studio, which became an inspiration for him to pursue photography.

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Sean Lee (b.1985) grew up in Singapore. His first body of work ‘Shauna’, made between 2007 and 2009, was nominated for the Prix Découverte on the 40th anniversary of Arles Photography Festival.

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Yu Yu Myint Than (b. 1984) is a photographer based in Yangon, Myanmar. Her work focuses on personal photo documentaries.

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