Dhuwã
2021 - Film & Video (Film & Video)
4:45 minutes
Sancintya Mohini Simpson
Dhuwã (term used by indentured people of Natal for ‘smoke’), is a single-channel film by Sancintya Mohini Simpson that traces back to the lived experiences of indentured labourers taken from India to Natal (now KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa) to work on sugar plantations during the late 1800s and early 1900s. This often-overlooked chapter in colonial history is close to the artist, as her maternal family were contracted to a sugar plantation in Natal. Filmed originally in 16mm film, Dhuwã captures sugarcane plantations in North Queensland, initially in moments of stillness that are gradually disrupted by a crescendo of repetitive sounds and fast camera movements that culminate in the fields being engulfed by flames. These scenes, together with the soundtrack (scored by her brother Isha Ram Das and Lawrence English, a celebrated Australian composer and experimental sound artist), have an inherent darkness that evokes the trauma and strong emotional and psychological charge of the sites that Simpson portrays. At the same time, Simpson provides a sense of relief and healing as the fire dissipates into clouds of smoke, and we see the ocean tide moving back and forth – the calm after the storm.
Sancintya Mohini Simpson is an artist, writer, and researcher whose work addresses the impact of colonization on the historical and lived experiences of her family and broader diasporic communities. Simpson descends from indentured laborers sent from India to work on colonial sugar plantations in South Africa during the late 1800s and early 1900s. Working between various mediums, including painting, video, poetry, and performance, Simpson pays particular attention to the gaps and erasures within the colonial archive that fail to acknowledge (or make invisible) the lives of over two million Indian indentured servants. Simpson traces the movements and passages of these laborers and her own familial past, giving voice to these often omitted histories, many of which are passed down orally through generations, including by her own mother. The complexities of memory, migration, and intergenerational trauma that she unearths serve as a means of reconciling with a violent past. What she proposes is a new speculative archive where loss and healing can coexist.
Colors:
Related works sharing similar palette
© » KADIST
Enar de Dios Rodríguez
2022Ecotone by Enar de Dios Rodríguez is a video work presented in six chapters, each beginning and ending with a one-sided telephone dialog with an informal, friendly and conversational tone, that leads quickly into complex philosophical subjects...
© » ARTSY
The Art We’re Obsessed with in January 2024 | Artsy Skip to Main Content Advertisement Art The Art We’re Obsessed with in January 2024 Artsy Editorial Jan 24, 2024 4:23PM “The Art We’re Obsessed With” is a new monthly series paying homage to the artworks Artsy staff members can’t stop thinking about, and why...
© » AMERICANSFORTHEARTS
Americans for the Arts Remembers Star of Film, TV, and Stage, Angela Lansbury | Americans for the Arts Jump to navigation Americans for the Arts Arts Action Fund National Arts Marketing Project pARTnership Movement Animating Democracy Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Instagram YouTube Load Picture Home News Room Americans for the Arts Remembers Star of Film, TV, and Stage, Angela Lansbury Hello Guest | Login Americans for the Arts Remembers Star of Film, TV, and Stage, Angela Lansbury Friday, October 14, 2022 Americans for the Arts mourns the loss of beloved Artists Committee member Dame Angela Lansbury , who passed away in her Los Angeles home on October 11, 2022, at the age of 96...
© » ARTS EQUATOR
Go Big or Go Home: “Displaced Persons’ Welcome Dinner” Takes Flight | ArtsEquator Thinking and Talking about Arts and Culture in Southeast Asia Articles Courtesy of Checkpoint Theatre June 7, 2019 By Helmi Yusof (1,387 words, six-minute read) Why do people choose to go into poor, dangerous, war-torn countries to work as humanitarian workers? Do they have boundless courage, hope and kindness? Do they have a death wish? Do they believe they can make a difference? Are they simply naïve? Do they suffer from a messiah complex? Or First World guilt? Did their countries once colonise other countries? Are they cynical about humanity? How do these women and men, who mostly come from the developed world, deal with privation – if not quite experiencing it directly, then at least witnessing it firsthand? At what point does their idealism get crushed by bureaucracy, the constraints of their organisations, their own limitations? As a participant of the inaugural Asian Arts Media Roundtable organised by ArtsEquator, I got to watch and share my thoughts with over 20 arts critics and members of the public at Critics Live, a post-show dialogue of Checkpoint Theatre’s Displaced Persons’ Welcome Dinner , a play that sheds light on the fallibility of humanitarian aid workers...
© » HYPERALLERGIC
Palestinian-American Woman Asked to Remove Veil and Face Jewelry at Art Basel Skip to content Samera Abed at Art Basel Miami Beach, where she wore an all-black outfit in a gesture of mourning for Palestinian lives lost (all photos courtesy Samera Abed) A Palestinian-American woman visiting Art Basel Miami Beach on opening day last Wednesday, December 6, was asked to remove her veil and beaded face accessory...
© » KADIST
Sahana Ramakrishnan
2019Sahana Ramakrishnan’s work blends cultural influences, spanning a range of visual mythologies, she weaves together a tapestry of pop cultural references that are upended by the artist’s exploration of identity, sexuality and gender perspectives...
© » SLASH PARIS
Nicolas de Staël — Musée d’Art Moderne de la ville de Paris — Exposition — Slash Paris Connexion Newsletter Twitter Facebook Nicolas de Staël — Musée d’Art Moderne de la ville de Paris — Exposition — Slash Paris Français English Accueil Événements Artistes Lieux Magazine Vidéos Retour Nicolas de Staël Exposition Peinture À venir Nicolas de Staël, Agrigente, 1954 Huile sur toile, 60 × 81 cm Collection particulière © ADAGP, Paris, 2023 / Photo Annik Wetter Nicolas de Staël Dans 2 mois : 15 septembre 2023 → 21 janvier 2024 Le Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris consacre une grande rétrospective à Nicolas de Staël (1914-1955), figure incontournable de la scène artistique française d’après-guerre...
© » KADIST
Bani Abidi
2008The threshold in contemporary Pakistan between the security of private life and the increasingly violent and unpredictable public sphere is represented in Abidi’s 2009 series Karachi ...
© » KADIST
Diana Fonseca Quiñones
2007In Los amantes (The lovers) Diana Fonseca Quiñones uses simple, commonplace objects and experiences that she derives from daily life to develop narratives that mix reality and fiction...
© » THE GUARDIAN
Guardian and Observer photographs of 2023 – own a fine art print | gallery | Art and design | The Guardian Skip to main content Guardian Print Shop Guardian and Observer photographs of 2023 – own a fine art print Fans watch Elton John’s set on the Pyramid stage at Glastonbury festival in Somerset on 25 June...
© » SLASH PARIS
Échantillons de soi — CAC La Traverse, Centre d'art contemporain d'Alfortville — Exposition — Slash Paris Connexion Newsletter Twitter Facebook Échantillons de soi — CAC La Traverse, Centre d'art contemporain d'Alfortville — Exposition — Slash Paris Français English Accueil Événements Artistes Lieux Magazine Vidéos Retour Échantillons de soi Exposition Techniques mixtes Échantillons de soi Encore environ un mois : 29 novembre 2023 → 13 janvier 2024 L’échantillon donne l’idée d’un tout et, quand il y en a plusieurs, ils permettent de prendre des décisions...
![Slated for [ ]: on Declutter Me! and Frequencies](https://artsequator.s3.ap-southeast-1.amazonaws.com/2022/10/4d64d13c-6850-42bd-8b2f-a2041b39c38b.jpg)
© » ARTS EQUATOR
Podcast 54: "FOUR FOUR EIGHT" by Emergency Stairs | ArtsEquator Thinking and Talking about Arts and Culture in Southeast Asia ArtsEquator Viewpoints Crispian Chan March 27, 2019 Duration: 41 min As part of ArtsEquator’s Critics Reading Group programme, we got together three arts writers – Corrie Tan, Jocelyn Chng and Loo Zihan – to discuss FOUR FOUR EIGHT by Emergency Stairs ...