Far and Familiar

Group Show; Glass Rice, San Francisco

Co-curated by Anoushka Mirchandani and Sadaf Padder

December 11, 2021 - January 15, 2022

Far and Familiar

Glass Rice is pleased to present Far and Familiar, a group exhibition featuring three South Asian women in partnership with guest curator, Sadaf Padder. Far and Familiar explores the double-bind identity of South Asian migrant women. The three artists, Anoushka Mirchandani, Sanie Bokhari, and Renluka Maharaj along with the curator hail from four different regions of the widely-dispersed diaspora - India, Pakistan, Trinidad-Tobago, and Kashmir.

All three artists immigrated to the United States of America as teenagers in pursuit of their artistic endeavors. Now, they have grown roots here. In a land that is both familiar and unfamiliar, what are the ways that they materialize memory and establish belonging through the limits of liminality?

Far and Familiar explores themes of displacement, migration, and intimacy. Each artist establishes her place through a reconnection to materials and relationships that transport her home. The works bridge past to present. They fuse Eastern and Western aesthetic and ideology, from Maharaj’s mixed media and archival photographic collage to Sanie Bokhari’s gothic and Mughal-inspired self and family portraiture to Anoushka Mirchandani’s blend of abstract and figurative styles and exploration of textile culminating in an homage to her Sindhi grandmother.

The immersive space envelops guests through the senses. At the apex of the exhibit is a photographic and material altar, inviting guests to view the generational progression of the artists’ and curators’ families and environmental influences as well as the items that remind them of home.

Press Release