Kinnari Saraiya

Kinnari Saraiya, born in Bombay, India has grown up with the stories of the colonial empire told by her grandfather who has seen the sunset on the empire and the effects of it today, she is fascinated by the physical evidence of this history in the landscape of India and England. Kinnari brings architectural structures drenched in historical violence to the fore and allows them to present their historical struggle. Further decolonising materiality in contemporary art, she hero’s chilli powder in her work to reflect domesticity and a sense of home through a spice that is vibrantly red and hot, symbolising violence. The history of this spice is a history of lands discovered, empires built and brought down, wars won and lost, treaties signed and outed, and avours sought and offered. Spices brought the British to India, beginning the journey of our shared history of colonisation. Moreover, this spice clouds the air of every home in India, evoking a sense of domesticity and reminding me of the stories that my grandfather shared with her when she was a kid. These, coming together as a cautionary tale, contemplates the duality of creation and destruction, past and present.

WEBSITE: www.kinnarisaraiya.com