By Sarah Kaushik
Weaving a tale of artistic narration, the exhibition aims to showcase the tales of struggle, longing and love, like never before. Kaalpadukal- curated by Shafeena Yusuff Ali, is a digital exploration of the modern-day migrant, as told through the strokes of 16 gifted digital artists from South India. Designed as an experiential audio-visual treat on the platform www.kaalpadukal.com, the exhibition is as much a tribute as a reflection of the emotions shaping the world’s migrant community. Through this exhibition, the curator Shafeena Yusuf Ali is truly hopeful that the exhibition will serve the larger purpose of art as a bearer of human sacrifice, love, pain, happiness, and ambition, on one large digital canvas.
Voyage by Sachin Samson
By The Curator
Kaalpaadukal is the mystic idea of the footprints one leaves behind in the places they make their own, and this exhibition is my attempt to bring together the emotions and memories that a migrant leaves behind - many that are blown away with the wind, and many more that are set in stone and concrete. A Migrant is a person who has had to leave his home, for love, family, job and more. The idea of migration evokes such strong emotions. There is the anticipation of leaving, the excitement of something new, the stark realities of being on foreign soil, the range of loneliness, the discovery of new friends, the tension of settling in and the hope that all things will work out well. There is also a range of emotions unexplored, that dictate the lives of those the migrant has left behind – his near & dear ones. Their lives, their emotions of anticipation and waiting, their exhilaration at meeting their loved one again.
Kaalpaadukal is the mystic idea of the footprints one leaves behind in the places they make their own, and this exhibition is my attempt to bring together the emotions and memories that a migrant leaves behind - many that are blown away with the wind, and many more that are set in stone and concrete. A Migrant is a person who has had to leave his home, for love, family, job and more. The idea of migration evokes such strong emotions. There is the anticipation of leaving, the excitement of something new, the stark realities of being on foreign soil, the range of loneliness, the discovery of new friends, the tension of settling in and the hope that all things will work out well. There is also a range of emotions unexplored, that dictate the lives of those the migrant has left behind – his near & dear ones. Their lives, their emotions of anticipation and waiting, their exhilaration at meeting their loved one again.
The South Indian diaspora with its rich history of migration, seemed a fertile ground for the emotions on both ends of the spectrum to be represented visually. In times like these when travelling back home has become more difficult than ever, when the starkness of being a migrant is more visible than ever, this exhibition visualizes those emotions. By bringing together a select group of talented digital artists whose lives have in some way or the other been touched by migration, this Virtual exhibition is an ode to those footprints that we see and the many that we do not, but which in one form or another, lie scattered across the world. I welcome you to open your minds and hearts and experience the audio visual immersion that I have put together through Kaalpadukal, in collaboration with 16 digital artists hailing from various parts of South India.
Left my heart at home by Harsha Ann
About the Curator
Organized by Shafeena Yusuff Ali, a hotelier, retailer and art collector based in Abu Dhabi, UAE, Kàalpadukal will be a virtual exhibition showcasing works related to the theme of migration, by 20 digital artists hailing from different parts of South India. Shafeena, who herself is a second-generation migrant from Thrissur, the cultural hub of the South Indian city of Kerala, is a recipient of Forbes’ 100 Most Influential Women in the Middle East, as well as other prestigious international recognitions such as the Emirates Woman of the Year in 2017 and the Indo-Arab Women Entrepreneurship Award. A post-graduate from Oxford University’s Said Business School, and and Masters in Art history and Visual culture almost under her belt, she is the Founding Director of Tablez Retail and F&B, as well as Twenty14 Holdings – a hospitality investment company which owns some of the world’s most iconic properties including the Great Scotland Yard Hotel in London, England, Waldorf Astoria-The Caledonian in Edinburgh, Scotland, and Port Muziris in Kochi, India.
Date 14-12-2021
Organized by Shafeena Yusuff Ali, a hotelier, retailer and art collector based in Abu Dhabi, UAE, Kàalpadukal will be a virtual exhibition showcasing works related to the theme of migration, by 20 digital artists hailing from different parts of South India. Shafeena, who herself is a second-generation migrant from Thrissur, the cultural hub of the South Indian city of Kerala, is a recipient of Forbes’ 100 Most Influential Women in the Middle East, as well as other prestigious international recognitions such as the Emirates Woman of the Year in 2017 and the Indo-Arab Women Entrepreneurship Award. A post-graduate from Oxford University’s Said Business School, and and Masters in Art history and Visual culture almost under her belt, she is the Founding Director of Tablez Retail and F&B, as well as Twenty14 Holdings – a hospitality investment company which owns some of the world’s most iconic properties including the Great Scotland Yard Hotel in London, England, Waldorf Astoria-The Caledonian in Edinburgh, Scotland, and Port Muziris in Kochi, India.
Date 14-12-2021