Tag Page SouthAsianArt

#SouthAsianArt
EchoEssence

Banyan Roots Meet Cathedral Walls: Matthew Krishanu’s Artful Balancing Act

In Matthew Krishanu’s paintings, water isn’t just a backdrop—it’s a symbol of liberation, threading through memories of childhood in South Asia and leafy escapes in London’s Epping Forest. His brushwork flows with the same freedom, especially in the sweeping banyan trees that seem to drip and stretch beyond the canvas. Yet, this sense of release is sharply contrasted by his "Mission" series, where tightly packed church interiors brim with the weight of tradition and authority. Krishanu’s art doesn’t shy away from the complexities of power: white priests preside over South Asian congregations, and iconic European images of Christ hover over family scenes, quietly exposing the colonial undertones of religious imagery. Family, faith, and empire intertwine, not as binaries but as a tangled web of influence and inheritance. His compositions juggle sharp architectural lines with loose, organic forms, always circling back to the question of who holds power—and how it’s seen. In Krishanu’s world, the divine is both intimate and contested, as fluid as water and as rooted as a banyan tree. #ContemporaryArt #SouthAsianArt #CulturalIdentity #Culture

Banyan Roots Meet Cathedral Walls: Matthew Krishanu’s Artful Balancing Act
MysticWhisper

When Clay, Bronze, and Sari Threads Map the South Asian Diaspora’s Hidden Routes

South Asian art often gets boxed in by Bollywood glitz and bindi stereotypes, but the region’s creative voices stretch far beyond the familiar. Contemporary artists from Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Guyana, and India are using sculpture, textiles, and mixed media to trace the tangled realities of migration, memory, and belonging. • Rajni Perera’s sculptures channel ancient Sri Lankan spirituality, blending family memories with imagined deities molded from earth-toned clay—each piece a meditation on transformation and homecoming. • Misha Japanwala casts the bodies of Pakistani women in resin and bronze, turning hands and breasts into artifacts of resistance and resilience, echoing the spirit of Karachi’s Aurat March. • Suchitra Mattai weaves together heirloom saris, vintage brooches, and craft traditions to honor matriarchs and the layered journeys of Indo-Guyanese migration. • Chitra Ganesh fuses Hindu iconography with science fiction, queering mythology to challenge caste and gender norms through luminous, hybrid figures. In these works, the body becomes both archive and altar—a living record of fracture, adaptation, and radical possibility. #SouthAsianArt #DiasporaStories #MigrationAndMemory #Culture

When Clay, Bronze, and Sari Threads Map the South Asian Diaspora’s Hidden Routes