What Happens When Artists Become Cartographers?

Text by Huzan Tata

Experience geo-political imaginations of South Asia through a group show

Maps aren’t the only things that portray borders and boundaries. New Delhi’s Latitude 28 gallery presents a show where artists from the subcontinent portray their views of what The Lay Of The Land, as the title of the show goes, means to them.

Curated by Anusha Rajendran, the show includes paintings and works in mixed media by Pakistani, Sri Lankan and Indian artists including Sarika Mehta, Sujith SN, Imran Channa, Adeela Suleman and Pradeep Chandrasiri, among others.

‘This show imagines artists as cartographers capturing vivid, graphic surveys of these constructs and their collapse from their own vantage points…these maps do not incorporate canonical aspirations. Nor can they ever be absolute or complete. They are self-admittedly, a work in progress towards charting lived experiences,’ says Rajendran. Who said learning geography can’t be interesting?

The Lay Of The Land is on display at Latitude 28, New Delhi (F 208 G/F Lado Sarai) until September 22, 2015.