History & art through the lens of Delhi-born visual artist, curator

By Our Reporter
0
1312
David Sequeira, studio/ office, ceramic and glass vases // Photo credit: Stephen McCallum

In an explosion of colour, and geometry, All the things I should have said that I never said is a major solo exhibition by David Sequeira.

Being a part of the Indian diaspora in Australia, Sequeira explores complexities around representation and identity. The title of the exhibition references Sequeira’s relationship with museums, history and contemporary art.

Sequeira’s multidisciplinary practice which includes painting, installation, fashion, performance and curatorship spans close to three decades. His work is deeply grounded in the visual languages of colour and geometry.

“I use repetition of form, colour and process to signal the rhythmic patterns of both change and continuity. I think about my work as a convergence of East and West, the spiritual and the aesthetic, the ancient and the contemporary,” says Sequeira.

The exhibition All the things I should have said that I never said brings together key elements of his practice along with a significant new work untitled India, commissioned for Bunjil Place Gallery.

Song for Alleviation, 2021
Gouache on music manuscript
210 mm x 297 mm
Pic supplied

The centrepiece of the exhibition, untitled India is a major work that connects a selection of archived photography with the tropes of fashion. Sequeira has designed a suite of 56 kurtas (long shirts worn by men in India) that combines block colours and photographic images associated with India’s past.

Collectively, these kurtas form a personal history of India in which singular events are contextualised within Sequeira’s intensely saturated colour combinations.

Addressing the notion of ‘embodied history’, the kurtas will be shown in a spectacular runway performance at the opening of the exhibition before becoming part of the gallery installation. There will be a community call-out for 56 inter-generational models for this performance which will also feature new music by Veena virtuoso and composer Hari Sivanesan.

A shelf holding around 1000 coloured glass and ceramic vases will wrap around the walls of the gallery in History & Infinity.

“Most of the vases in my work have been gleaned from thrift stores. Symmetry and solid colour are the two important design principles common to all of my vases. Individually, the vases are neither valuable or even interesting. Collectively they can be arranged into infinite orchestrations of colour and form,” says Sequeira.

Red/ pink kurta
Print: Farmer protest 2021
Bespoke cotton kurta with digital printing
Photo credit: Eryca Green

Sequeira’s Song Cycle is an ongoing suite of works on paper – each work an intense concentration of colour and geometry. Sequeira considers these contemplative diagrammatic forms that are painted on sheets of music manuscript paper, as gentle interruptions or “quiet resonances of geometry and colour that call for pause and consideration.”

“Each visual song honours its own aspect of art and life, inseparable from its title, written in pencil at the bottom of each manuscript. Similar to Indian miniature painting and Tantric paintings, interaction with these works takes place in a liminal contemplative space between the image and the word, seeing and perceiving,” says Sequeria.

Sequeira, a visual artist, curator and gallery director, has been at the forefront of art and curatorship that addresses diaspora for almost 30 years.

Sequeira has exhibited widely throughout Australia.  He has held senior positions in public cultural institutions including the National Gallery of Australia, National Portrait Gallery of Australia, National Film and Sound Archive, Australian Parliament House and Old Parliament House, Canberra. He is currently the Director, Fiona and Sidney Myer Gallery, University of Melbourne.

Born in New Delhi in 1966, Sequeira moved to Melbourne in 1970 with his family.

(The exhibition opens at Bunjil Gallery from Saturday 7 May to Sunday 21 August, 2022)


Follow The Indian Sun on Twitter | InstagramFacebook

 

Donate To The Indian Sun

Dear Reader,

The Indian Sun is an independent organisation committed to community journalism. We have, through the years, been able to reach a wide audience especially with the growth of social media, where we also have a strong presence. With platforms such as YouTube videos, we have been able to engage in different forms of storytelling. However, the past few years, like many media organisations around the world, it has not been an easy path. We have a greater challenge. We believe community journalism is very important for a multicultural country like Australia. We’re not able to do everything, but we aim for some of the most interesting stories and journalism of quality. We call upon readers like you to support us and make any contribution. Do make a DONATION NOW so we can continue with the volume and quality journalism that we are able to practice.

Thank you for your support.

Best wishes,
Team The Indian Sun

Comments