Utsa Hazarika
Artworks
Image credit: Lauryn Siegel
Yantra/Bloom (32°N) draws inspiration from the Samrat Yantra sundial at Jantar Mantar in Delhi, a site steeped in both scientific significance and contemporary political resonance. Oriented towards Palestine, with its gnomon angled at 32°N, the sculpture evokes themes of solidarity, protest, time, and diasporic movements. Within the structure, a greenhouse nurtures two night-blooming jasmine (Raat Ki Rani) plants, whose fragrant blossoms, native to South Asia, invoke a sensory connection to place and memory.
The fluorescent green lattice screens that encase the plants allude to traditional South Asian jaalis, though their patterns are intentionally “glitched,” symbolizing fragmented identities and histories shaped by migration and colonial legacies. The act of releasing scent—an experience unbound by borders—serves as a poetic metaphor for diaspora and the fluidity of cultural exchange.
Notice the mirror positioned at the opposite end of the structure, reflecting light into the greenhouse at key intervals, evoking the celestial precision of the sundial while highlighting the interplay between the scientific and the spiritual. An incomplete staircase within the structure casts an ephemeral shadow, gesturing toward aspirations of transcendence and collective resistance. Hazarika’s work critiques the reductive notion of “invasive species,” reframing it as a complex narrative of survival, adaptation, and resilience.
Digital Media
Alongside Yantra/Bloom (32°N), Utsa Hazarika presents Where Jantar Mantar Was Known For All Kinds of Protest, a sound piece with audio research featuring protest movements in India, with excerpts from Indian journalist Ravish Kumar, protestors in Delhi, student activists, and political prisoner Umar Khalid.
Transcription
00:00
Namaskar, main Ravish Kumar Main Shaheen Bagh aaya hun
On a winter’s night in January 2020, the journalist Ravish Kumar stands among the seated women of Shaheen Bagh. Facing the camera, he holds the microphone up to himself as he says, “I’ve come to Shaheen Bagh, but I haven’t come to say much.”
Instead, “I’ve come to listen to those who have so much to say, that they have been protesting for 22 days.”
01:00
Under a large marquee installed on one of Delhi’s main highways, the women were on an indefinite blockade against the BJP’s new Citizenship Amendment Act. In this re-appropriation of city space, a few cold metres of tarmac, Ravish Kumar reminds us of the way strategies of protest have spread across Delhi.
Is Dilli sheher mein, jahan Jantar Mantar hi tamaam tarah ke dharnon se jaana gaya
In this city of Delhi, where Jantar Mantar was the place known for all kinds of protest
Nagarikta Sanshodhan Kanoon ke virodh mein, kai aur naye jageh bani
The opposition to the Citizenship Amendment Act has created new places of protest
Jamia University ke bahar ki jagah hai
02:00
Hauz Khas mein pradarshan hua
There is the place in front of Jamia University, there was a protest at Hauz Khas
Defence Colony ke Durga Park mein pradarshan hua, aur Shaheen Bagh mein pradarshan ho raha hai
There was a protest at Durga Park, and there is now a protest at Shaheen Bagh
Toh aap yun dekhiye ki aapka Jantar Mantar, Jantar Mantar se bahar nikalkar badaa ho raha hai. Shaheen Bagh ho raha hai
So you could say that your Jantar Mantar is leaving Jantar Mantar and becoming bigger. Its becoming Shaheen Bagh.
03:00
Godse ko kaun phaansi tanga? Umar Khalid, Umar Khalid.
RSS ka dushman kaun? Umar Khalid, Umar Khalid.
BJP ka dushman kaun? Umar Khalid, Umar Khalid.
Marxvad kisne phelaya? Umar Khalid, Umar Khalid.
Marx nai tha. Umar Khalid ne khud Capital likhi thi.
Who killed Godse?
Umar Khalid, Umar Khalid.
Who is the enemy of the RSS?
Umar Khalid, Umar Khalid.
Who is the enemy of the BJP?
Umar Khalid, Umar Khalid.
Who spread Marxism?
Umar Khalid, Umar Khalid.
No, it wasn’t Marx.
Umar Khalid wrote Capital himself.
Gandhi ko kaun desh me laya?
Umar Khalid, Umar Khalid.
Amrika ka baap hai
Umar Khalid, Umar Khalid.
Amrika ka baap hai
Umar Khalid, Umar Khalid.
04:00
Israil kisse darrta hai
Umar Khalid, Umar Khalid.
Filisteen kisse pyaar kare
Umar Khalid, Umar Khalid.
Filisteen kisse pyaar kare
Umar Khalid, Umar Khalid.
Agar aap is video ko dekh rahe hai, iska yeh matlab hai ki mujhe giraftaar kar diya gaya hai…
If you’re watching this video, that means I’ve been arrested…
After surviving his arrest and trial in 2016, the violence the state’s propaganda unleashed, being excluded from his university, and an assassination attempt, Umar Khalid was arrested again in 2020 under India’s UAPA law.
Umar is still in prison, awaiting trial in Delhi’s Tihar Jail, along with hundreds of other political prisoners across India.
Bibliography:
“Speak Louder Against Injustice” Umar Khalid’s Last Video Before Arrest, The Quint, 2020.
Research and field recordings by Utsa Hazarika.
Instagram Takeover
View this post on Instagram
About the Artist
Utsa Hazarika (she/her) is an artist and writer based in Queens. Her research-based practice ranges across video, installation and sculpture, and explores how an interdisciplinary dialogue between art and social research can push us to think about power, memory and resistance. Her work has been exhibited internationally, including a solo exhibition at the Queens Museum (US), and group shows at Museum of the City of New York (US), Hessel Museum of Art (US) and Cemeti Institute for Art and Society (Indonesia). She has been awarded residencies and fellowships in Asia and the United States, including Pioneer Works (US), Asian Cultural Council (US), Lijiang Studio (China), and Khoj International Artists’ Association (India). She holds an MFA in Fine Arts from The New School, an MPhil in Social Anthropology from the University of Cambridge, and attended the Whitney Independent Study Program. Her art and academic research has been published in Ethnos: Journal of Anthropology (UK), Trans Asia Photography Review (US) and The Caravan (India).