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Artist: Archana Hande

Hybridity. Exchange. Migration. These words coalesce around the human stories Archana Hande explores through mixed media in her upcoming show I am a Landscape Painter. A suite of photographs, videos, watercolours and textiles created as part of her travelogue, meanders through the journey of human identity impacted by geographical borders shifting in response to trade: be it from the port cities of Bombay and Calcutta, the Indian Ocean or from the cities across the Silk - Salt route and the Goldfields trail in Australia.

The Golden Feral Trail in Western Australia is narrated through Hande’s conversations with an ‘Afghan’s’ daughter, Dimple. Dimple’s concerns about her dubious heritage reflect today’s hesitation towards the Other. We live our deepest fears through Dimple’s dialogues with Archana.

The Salt-Silk Route traverses through parts of India, Pakistan, Nepal and Tibet, continuing the ‘Afghan’s’ journey across the trading communities which dot this area from the 12th century. Textile mills in Bombay, Patola makers in Patan, merchant travelling in Tibet to salt trading in Nepal, complete the route.

Finally, Mumbai and Kolkatta are observed as ports for goods and humans, where the Cameleers Abdul and Akbar culminate in Hande’s memories.

The topographical contours of the earth reflect these in the form of digs, mines, hills; all of which hide and narrate stories. Collecting these stories made Archana Hande realize that she always wants to be a landscape painter, with or without borders.