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.
