Panjabi Garden exhibition celebrates Sikh artist Keerat Kaur’s mother tongue, opening January 21
The multimedia solo show at Surrey Art Gallery explores the richness of language and nature
Keerat Kaur, Origin Story, 2020, acrylic on canvas.
Surrey Art Gallery presents Panjabi Garden from January 21 to March 26; Artists’ Panel and Winter Opening is on January 21 from 6:30 to 9pm; Keerat Kaur Artist Talk & Performance is on January 27 from 6 to 8pm; Exhibition Tour (in Punjabi) is on February 11 from 2 to 4 pm
A MULTILINGUAL ARCHITECT and multidisciplinary artist with Sikh-Punjabi roots, Keerat Kaur explores the lushness of language and nature in a new solo exhibition at Surrey Art Gallery.
Panjabi Garden features motifs from the natural world in celebration of the Panjabi language and Gurmukhi script, according to a release. The word Panjab was colonized as Punjab at the time of the British Raj. Panj is the Farsi word for five, while ab means water. The term refers to the five main rivers that flow through the two Panjab regions: Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas, and Satluj. When Panjab was divided in 1947 into Pakistan and India, Beas and Satluj flowed through East Panjab (India) and Jhelum, Chenab, and Ravi became part of West Panjab (Pakistan). Panjabi is said to decolonize the word itself.
Kaur’s Panjabi Garden is a collection of multimedia works—poetry, digital illustration, traditional painting, and marble inlay—that reflect the themes, imagery, and text in her recently released Panjabi language-learning book of the same name. The exhibition is aims to inspire a connection and re-connection with the wealth of this language.
Kaur, who reads, writes, and speaks Punjabi, English, French, and Hindi, is currently studying the ancient language of Braj through the examination of historical Sikh texts.
“Panjabi Garden is an amalgamation of my favourite worlds,” Kaur says, “and it honours the mother tongue in which I uttered my first words.”
1. Keerat Kaur, Svāgat, 2022, digital illustration, excerpt from Panjabi Garden.
Splitting her time between Vancouver and London, Ontario, Kaur will attend the Surrey Art Gallery’s winter opening reception on January 21 from 6:30 to 9 pm. The free event also recognizes other exhibitions at the venue: Through the Lattice; Cindy Mochizuki: Autumn Strawberry (Dance Film); and Surrey Art Teachers Association: Connect. Select artists from Through the Lattice will take part in a panel discussion at 6:30 pm about how people inhabit physical spaces.
On January 27 from 6 to 8 pm, Kaur will give a free talk at the gallery, sharing stories about her Sikh identity and how she balances a career as an apprentice architect, visual artist, designer, and vocal performer. A sarangi performance by Kaur and Inderpal Gill follows.
On February 11 from 2 to 4 pm, Kaur will lead a free tour of her exhibition in Punjabi.
More information is at Surrey Art Gallery.
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