Experimenter to unveil exhibit Sea Change by Montreal-based artist of Indian origin, Hajra Waheed

KOLKATA: Calcutta's leading Contemporary art gallery, Experimenter, is unveiling an exhibit, titled Sea Change, by Montreal-based artist of Indian origin, HajraWaheed. This is Waheed's first solo in India. The exhibition opens Friday, January 18, 2013 and will continue till March 2.

Sea Change is a new and ongoing body of work that chronicles the disappearance of all those who meet this fate, in looking for, in the name of salvation, a better life or a new one.

Waheed's display comprises a series of collaged portraits and Polaroids, files, objects, coded notes and one-page declarations on paper. Through these delicately executed works, Waheed provides a glimpse into the fragments that one leaves behind while moving to another country.

In some respects, Sea Change is a quiet ode to those who dare to journey across the borders they once built for themselves.

Much of Waheed's past work (The Anouchian Passport Portrait Series and Swimming Pool Series, among others) has centered on memory and its relationship to photography. It also dwells on the use of photography in the mis-identification or further identification of individuals and groups of people undergoing some process of migration.

Sea Change's visual material is directly sourced from existing photographs, in this case a large deck of postcards from the 1930-40's that were gifted to the artist by a friend whose grandfather spent many years photographing his travels.

The exhibition consists of a number of Polaroid-based works. Whether using discontinued photographing equipment or Polaroid square shooter, expired film or aged paper as early as 1935, Waheed's drawings, collages and even new, time-based works always seek to address personal, national and cultural identity formation in relation to political history, popular imagination and the impact of colonial power in a global context.

Hajra Waheed, who was born in Calgary, Canada, has regularly exhibited her works in exhibitions across North America, in Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Her works can be found in a number of permanent collections including the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA), New York, the John Jones Collection and the British Museum, London. She currently lives and works in Montreal, Canada.