Karenjit Sandhu’s gestalt is a new poetry collection shaped by her research into the Panchayat Collection at Tate Library. Founded in London in 1988 by Shaheen Merali and Al-An deSouza with Bhajan Hunjan, Symrath Patti and Shanti Thomas, Panchayat was a pioneering group of artists engaged in artmaking, activism and communal archiving. The Panchayat Collection brings together books, catalogues, magazines, videos, slides and ephemera that reflect this collective history and capture a wide range of artistic, cultural and political experiences, often focusing on race, class, gender, and memory.
In gestalt, Sandhu responds to the Panchayat Collection through visual poetry, drawings, and performance instructions, creating an alternative documentation of its legacy. The book, published by The87press (an Asian, LGBTQIA+, and neurodiverse collective), also features artwork by Panchayat artists Bhajan Hunjan, Permindar Kaur, Rita Keegan, Symrath Patti, and Shanti Thomas.
Sandhu will perform from gestalt, accompanied by a soundscape composed by Christopher Sarantis. Guest poets Azad Ashim Sharma, Bhanu Kapil, Iain Morrison and Redell Olsen will bring distinct yet connected perspectives: from explorations of diasporic identity and experience to experimental approaches to archives, memory and documentation.
The event will also feature a show and share of materials from the Panchayat Collection, celebrating its 10th anniversary at Tate.