Dhaka Art Summit 2020
These two works look at spaces and practices traditionally associated with women in South Asia, exploring shifting habits and values in the aftermath of colonialism
Let Me Get You a Nice Cup of Tea is an installation and performance by Bangladeshi artist Yasmin Jahan Nupur. On several days during the display, the artist holds one-to-one conversations with visitors while offering them a cup of tea she has grown and prepared herself. While emphasising the comforting role of tea drinking in Britain and South Asia, the work also invites reflection on the impact of British imperialism and colonialism. When the performance is not taking place, the domestic interior, wall painting and video documentation remain on view as an installation. Contrasting with the openness of Nupur’s work, Confess by Bharti Kher is an enclosed wooden structure. Its title and appearance evoke private spaces like confessionals, bedchambers or cells.
Born in the UK and working in India, Kher often uses materials associated with the daily lives of South Asian women. She regularly uses bindis in her work as a means to explore Indian traditions, and personal and social identity. Confess alludes to the tensions and ambiguities arising from the changing definitions of femininity in contemporary India. Let Me Get You a Nice Cup of Tea and Confess both address how British colonialism, mass production and globalisation pervade South Asian cultures and everyday life.
Petrit Halilaj, Do you realise there is a rainbow even if it’s night!? (dark pink) 2017
Do you realise there is a rainbow even if it’s night!? 2017 is an installation that consists of six large sculptures that take the form of colourful fabric moths. Each sculpture consists of a steel and brass armature on which two fabric wings made from antique Kosovar rugs have been fixed and from which emerge two long polyester fabric tails. The giant fabric insects’ bodies measure over two metres with their shimmering tails extending a further two metres in length. The insects’ heads are made from Flokati handmade shag-pile rug from which protrude antennae made from Chenille wire. The moths are referred to by the overall title Do you realise there is a rainbow even if it’s night!? and are differentiated individually by a colour description. In light green (Tate T15458), the body of the moth is made from a finely woven Dyshek carpet bearing a small, repeating green diamond pattern, bordered by weaved stripes of yellow, blue and red dyed wool; the tail is turquoise. The moth dark pink (Tate T15459), is also formed using antique Dyshek carpet with a dark red diamond weave, bordered by black Chenille wire, with black brush-like antennae and a shiny red tail. There are two pairs of moths which are always displayed together as pairs and installed near to flickering light-bulbs: they are grey and warm yellow (Tate T15460); and light yellow and warm violet (Tate T15461). The moths grey and warm yellow are both made from antique Qilim (or Kilim) rugs: the former is primarily blue and red with a repeated decorative flower-like geometric patterning in blue, green and pale blue; the latter has a red ground with a repeating dark-blue motif. The grey moth is lined with a silky silvery-cloth and has grey furry antennae. The warm yellow insect’s dark red and blue body contrasts with a bright yellow textile tail. Light yellow and warm violet are made respectively from biege Qilim carpet with repeated brown abstract motifs and a bright yellow tail; and a solid cream antique Jan rug with a rich violet-coloured tail and orange fuzzy antennae. Do you realise there is a rainbow even if it’s night!? was commissioned for the exhibition Viva Arte Viva at the 57th Venice Biennale in 2017 and installed in the Arsenale; here a total of eighteen moths were displayed, suspended from the ceiling and walls, with their long fabric tails trailing onto the floor, and one work placed directly on the floor. The moths can be presented together or in smaller paired groupings. In total the artist has made twenty-three moths. A number of these were included in his solo exhibition at the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles from September 2018 to January 2019.
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artworks in Yasmin Jahan Nupur and Bharti Kher
Petrit Halilaj, Do you realise there is a rainbow even if it’s night!? (light green) 2017
Do you realise there is a rainbow even if it’s night!? 2017 is an installation that consists of six large sculptures that take the form of colourful fabric moths. Each sculpture consists of a steel and brass armature on which two fabric wings made from antique Kosovar rugs have been fixed and from which emerge two long polyester fabric tails. The giant fabric insects’ bodies measure over two metres with their shimmering tails extending a further two metres in length. The insects’ heads are made from Flokati handmade shag-pile rug from which protrude antennae made from Chenille wire. The moths are referred to by the overall title Do you realise there is a rainbow even if it’s night!? and are differentiated individually by a colour description. In light green (Tate T15458), the body of the moth is made from a finely woven Dyshek carpet bearing a small, repeating green diamond pattern, bordered by weaved stripes of yellow, blue and red dyed wool; the tail is turquoise. The moth dark pink (Tate T15459), is also formed using antique Dyshek carpet with a dark red diamond weave, bordered by black Chenille wire, with black brush-like antennae and a shiny red tail. There are two pairs of moths which are always displayed together as pairs and installed near to flickering light-bulbs: they are grey and warm yellow (Tate T15460); and light yellow and warm violet (Tate T15461). The moths grey and warm yellow are both made from antique Qilim (or Kilim) rugs: the former is primarily blue and red with a repeated decorative flower-like geometric patterning in blue, green and pale blue; the latter has a red ground with a repeating dark-blue motif. The grey moth is lined with a silky silvery-cloth and has grey furry antennae. The warm yellow insect’s dark red and blue body contrasts with a bright yellow textile tail. Light yellow and warm violet are made respectively from biege Qilim carpet with repeated brown abstract motifs and a bright yellow tail; and a solid cream antique Jan rug with a rich violet-coloured tail and orange fuzzy antennae. Do you realise there is a rainbow even if it’s night!? was commissioned for the exhibition Viva Arte Viva at the 57th Venice Biennale in 2017 and installed in the Arsenale; here a total of eighteen moths were displayed, suspended from the ceiling and walls, with their long fabric tails trailing onto the floor, and one work placed directly on the floor. The moths can be presented together or in smaller paired groupings. In total the artist has made twenty-three moths. A number of these were included in his solo exhibition at the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles from September 2018 to January 2019.
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artworks in Yasmin Jahan Nupur and Bharti Kher
Petrit Halilaj, Do you realise there is a rainbow even if it’s night!? (grey and warm yellow) 2017
Do you realise there is a rainbow even if it’s night!? 2017 is an installation that consists of six large sculptures that take the form of colourful fabric moths. Each sculpture consists of a steel and brass armature on which two fabric wings made from antique Kosovar rugs have been fixed and from which emerge two long polyester fabric tails. The giant fabric insects’ bodies measure over two metres with their shimmering tails extending a further two metres in length. The insects’ heads are made from Flokati handmade shag-pile rug from which protrude antennae made from Chenille wire. The moths are referred to by the overall title Do you realise there is a rainbow even if it’s night!? and are differentiated individually by a colour description. In light green (Tate T15458), the body of the moth is made from a finely woven Dyshek carpet bearing a small, repeating green diamond pattern, bordered by weaved stripes of yellow, blue and red dyed wool; the tail is turquoise. The moth dark pink (Tate T15459), is also formed using antique Dyshek carpet with a dark red diamond weave, bordered by black Chenille wire, with black brush-like antennae and a shiny red tail. There are two pairs of moths which are always displayed together as pairs and installed near to flickering light-bulbs: they are grey and warm yellow (Tate T15460); and light yellow and warm violet (Tate T15461). The moths grey and warm yellow are both made from antique Qilim (or Kilim) rugs: the former is primarily blue and red with a repeated decorative flower-like geometric patterning in blue, green and pale blue; the latter has a red ground with a repeating dark-blue motif. The grey moth is lined with a silky silvery-cloth and has grey furry antennae. The warm yellow insect’s dark red and blue body contrasts with a bright yellow textile tail. Light yellow and warm violet are made respectively from biege Qilim carpet with repeated brown abstract motifs and a bright yellow tail; and a solid cream antique Jan rug with a rich violet-coloured tail and orange fuzzy antennae. Do you realise there is a rainbow even if it’s night!? was commissioned for the exhibition Viva Arte Viva at the 57th Venice Biennale in 2017 and installed in the Arsenale; here a total of eighteen moths were displayed, suspended from the ceiling and walls, with their long fabric tails trailing onto the floor, and one work placed directly on the floor. The moths can be presented together or in smaller paired groupings. In total the artist has made twenty-three moths. A number of these were included in his solo exhibition at the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles from September 2018 to January 2019.
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artworks in Yasmin Jahan Nupur and Bharti Kher
Petrit Halilaj, Do you realise there is a rainbow even if it’s night!? (light yellow and warm violet) 2017
Do you realise there is a rainbow even if it’s night!? 2017 is an installation that consists of six large sculptures that take the form of colourful fabric moths. Each sculpture consists of a steel and brass armature on which two fabric wings made from antique Kosovar rugs have been fixed and from which emerge two long polyester fabric tails. The giant fabric insects’ bodies measure over two metres with their shimmering tails extending a further two metres in length. The insects’ heads are made from Flokati handmade shag-pile rug from which protrude antennae made from Chenille wire. The moths are referred to by the overall title Do you realise there is a rainbow even if it’s night!? and are differentiated individually by a colour description. In light green (Tate T15458), the body of the moth is made from a finely woven Dyshek carpet bearing a small, repeating green diamond pattern, bordered by weaved stripes of yellow, blue and red dyed wool; the tail is turquoise. The moth dark pink (Tate T15459), is also formed using antique Dyshek carpet with a dark red diamond weave, bordered by black Chenille wire, with black brush-like antennae and a shiny red tail. There are two pairs of moths which are always displayed together as pairs and installed near to flickering light-bulbs: they are grey and warm yellow (Tate T15460); and light yellow and warm violet (Tate T15461). The moths grey and warm yellow are both made from antique Qilim (or Kilim) rugs: the former is primarily blue and red with a repeated decorative flower-like geometric patterning in blue, green and pale blue; the latter has a red ground with a repeating dark-blue motif. The grey moth is lined with a silky silvery-cloth and has grey furry antennae. The warm yellow insect’s dark red and blue body contrasts with a bright yellow textile tail. Light yellow and warm violet are made respectively from biege Qilim carpet with repeated brown abstract motifs and a bright yellow tail; and a solid cream antique Jan rug with a rich violet-coloured tail and orange fuzzy antennae. Do you realise there is a rainbow even if it’s night!? was commissioned for the exhibition Viva Arte Viva at the 57th Venice Biennale in 2017 and installed in the Arsenale; here a total of eighteen moths were displayed, suspended from the ceiling and walls, with their long fabric tails trailing onto the floor, and one work placed directly on the floor. The moths can be presented together or in smaller paired groupings. In total the artist has made twenty-three moths. A number of these were included in his solo exhibition at the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles from September 2018 to January 2019.
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artworks in Yasmin Jahan Nupur and Bharti Kher
Art in this room
Petrit Halilaj
Do you realise there is a rainbow even if it’s night!? (dark pink)
2017
Petrit Halilaj
Do you realise there is a rainbow even if it’s night!? (light green)
2017
Petrit Halilaj
Do you realise there is a rainbow even if it’s night!? (grey and warm yellow)
2017
Petrit Halilaj
Do you realise there is a rainbow even if it’s night!? (light yellow and warm violet)
2017
