Shruti Mahajan: Dastavez I Documents – Memory, Identity and the Archival Paradigm

My personal trajectories of migration have made me conscious of the relationship between memories and movement. Moving every few years between military cantonments of numerous cities and border regions of India, changing addresses is an integral part of my life and practice. This constant displacement has redefined my notion of home which suspends between the conceptual dichotomies of remembering/forgetting, temporary/permanent, attachment/detachment. Over the years, I have been able to reflect, respond and visually translate these ideas into my drawings and works.

In my presentation, I would like to share a body of work in which the materials and concepts are interwoven both in terms of meanings and metaphors. Through the history of objects that one remembers, these pieces of expression have been intimate visual archives that bring in the narratives of belonging, identity and nationhood and the conditions of familiarity/estrangement of our times.

Shruti Mahajan studied painting at Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda (2000) and textile design at the National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad (2004) in India. She has received several grants fellowships and participated in residencies in India and abroad (for example 2017 in Hamburg, 2012 in Düsseldorf, 2010 in Cologne). Among her last exhibitions: Dastavez (Gallery Shrine Empire at Delhi Contemporary Art Week, 2019); Faltungen (together with Alke Reeh, Gallery Maurer, Frankfurt 2017); Migrating Identities (two person show at Westwerk, Hamburg,2017); Seal (Solo show at Hamburg Hall, Goethe Zentrum, Hyderabad);  Reflection (Galerie Max Mueller, Max Mueller Bhavan, Mumbai,2013); Dispatch (Städtische Galerie Alte Post, Neuss,2012); Drawings (an offsite show at Sugra Manzil by Chemould Prescott Road, Mumbai, 2011).
In addition, Shruti also teaches, as a visiting faculty, at NID Ahmedabad; and deeply engages with textiles: through study and design practice.