Sundaram Tagore Gallery is pleased to present Hybridity and Belonging in Contemporary Art, the inaugural exhibition of our new London gallery at 27 Pall Mall. The 3,337-square-foot gallery is situated on the ground floor of an Edwardian-style landmark building designed in 1902. It encompasses two floors of exhibition space, a private viewing room, and space for events including film screenings, panel discussions, and live performance—an important facet of the gallery’s programming.
Hybridity and Belonging in Contemporary Art brings together artists from and inspired by Asia whose work explores hybridity, displacement, nostalgia, and the refusal to be confined by a singular identity. Crossing cultural and national boundaries, the artists in this exhibition synthesize Eastern and Western visual languages, forms, techniques, and philosophies. By incorporating authentic elements from their own cultures, each adds richness and complexity to the contemporary canon. Hybridity and Belonging in Contemporary Art reflects Sundaram Tagore Gallery’s cross-cultural ethos and its longstanding commitment to artists operating across geographies and lived experiences.
EXHIBITION HIGHLIGHTS
Comprising paintings, sculptures, and installations, the exhibition includes new work by internationally renowned painter Hiroshi Senju, whose decades-long exploration of waterfalls is an homage to planet Earth. Rooted in profound respect for the veneration of nature that permeates Japanese culture and tradition, Senju approaches these elemental forces not only with that reverence, but also with the intention to unite viewers through a shared sense of awe for the natural world, no matter what their differences might be.
Acclaimed artist Chun Kwang Young, known for his abstract assemblages fabricated from thousands of triangular forms wrapped in traditional Korean mulberry paper, combines the techniques, materials, and sentiment of his Korean heritage with the conceptual freedom he experienced during his education in the United States.
The exhibition also features work by Tayeba Begum Lipi, who is widely recognized for her long-running sculpture series in which she recreates everyday objects using razor blades, a reference to a tool commonly used in childbirth and to the violence women often face in parts of Bangladesh. Presented alongside are sculptural installations by United States–based emerging artist Kenny Nguyen, who produces rhythmic, three-dimensional paintings made from painted strips of silk, a culturally significant material in the artist’s homeland of Vietnam.
THE ARTISTS
The exhibiting artists in Hybridity and Belonging in Contemporary Art include Anila Quayyum Agha (b. 1965, Pakistan), Miya Ando (b. 1973, Los Angeles), Chun Kwang Young (b. 1944, South Korea), Trishla Jain (b. 1985, New Delhi), Jane Lee (b. 1963, Singapore), Tayeba Begum Lipi (b. 1969, Bangladesh), Kenny Nguyen (b. 1990, Vietnam), Sohan Qadri (b. 1932, India – d. 2011, Canada), Hiroshi Senju (b. 1958, Tokyo), Neha Vedpathak (b. 1982, India), Robert Yasuda (b. 1940, Hawaii) and Zheng Lu (b. 1978, China).