Suchitra Mattai
About the Artist
Suchitra Mattai (b.1973 Georgetown, Guyana) is a multi-disciplinary artist of Indo-Caribbean descent. Suchitra received an MFA in painting and drawing and an MA in South Asian art from the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. Past projects include group exhibitions at the MCA Chicago, Crystal Bridges Museum, the Sharjah Biennial, the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Tampa Museum of Art, the MCA Denver, and the John Michael Kohler Arts Center and solo exhibitions at the Boise Museum of Art and Kavi Gupta Gallery. Upcoming projects include solo exhibitions at the ICA San Francisco and the National Museum of Women in the Arts. Her works are represented in collections which include Crystal Bridges Museum of Art, the Denver Art Museum, the Tampa Museum of Art, the Shah Garg Collection, the Jorge Perez Collection, the Tia Collection and the University of Michigan Museum of Art. Suchitra is also a recipient of a Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship.
Exhibition
Suchitra Mattai
We are nomads, we are dreamers
May 11 – August 25, 2024
We are nomads, we are dreamers is a solo exhibition of newly commissioned works by Suchitra Mattai that celebrates the migratory oceanic journeys of past, present, and future diasporic communities. Inspired by the Park’s position along the East River, which flows into the vast expanse of the Atlantic Ocean, this exhibition features a series of soft sculptures made from vintage saris collected from women of the South Asian diaspora. The exhibition’s title reflects upon transatlantic migration experiences, including Mattai’s ancestors who traveled from India to British Guiana (now Guyana) as indentured laborers in the early twentieth century, as well as the artist’s own personal migrations.
At the center of the Park, six futuristic pods, reminiscent of continental forms, emerge from the landscape, reflecting the dynamic interplay of the shifting sky and ecology. Draped in vibrantly colored saris, meticulously hand-woven together, these monumental forms transcend static existence, subtly evolving and adapting within their waterfront ecosystem. Here, new living beings and elements like sun, rain, and wind interact with the textiles, enriching the pre-existing lives embedded in the saris, which carry the memories of the women who wore them. These artifacts from the future serve as an ever-evolving testament to the human experience of migration and adaptation—a monument to the journey of becoming.
Nearby, a series of seven hanging sculptures adorn the grove of trees, reflecting on notions of femininity and fertility. Additionally, at the south entrance of the Park, the Broadway Billboard features a thirty-foot collage by Mattai. Organized in collaboration with Barkha Dance Company, dance performances will activate the exhibition on June 12, July 18, and August 25. For more information, please visit our website.
We are nomads, we are dreamers is organized by Socrates Sculpture Park and curated by Kaitlin Garcia-Maestas, Curator & Director of Exhibitions.
Digital Media
Suchitra Mattai for the exhibition Suchitra Mattai: We are nomads, we are dreamers, on All of It, WNYC, May 7, 2024.
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Artworks
Image Credit: Scott Lynch, Shah Miraz
Alocasia, ‘Giant’ (Alocasia macrorrhizos), Astilbe ‘Visions’ (Astilbe chinensis), Bird of Paradise (Strelitzia nicolai), Clematis ‘Alionushka’, ‘Bee’s Jubilee’, ‘Hagley Hybrid’, ‘Niobe’, ‘Ville de Lyon’, Crocosmia; ‘George Davidson’ , ‘Lucifer’, ‘Orange Pekoe‘ Cumin (Cuminum cyminum), Daphne ‘Eternal Fragrance’ (Daphne odora), Dyer’s Chamomile (Cota tinctoria), Hibiscus (Rosa sinensis), Japanese Indigo (Persicaria tinctoria), Jasmine; ‘Night Blooming’ (Cestrum nocturnum) and ‘Indian Jui’ (Jasminum molle) , Klip Dagga (Leonotis nepetifolia), Lady’s Mantle (Alchemilla), Lebanese Za’atar (Origanum syriacum), Lemongrass (Cymbopogon), Madder (Rubia tinctorum), Marigold ‘Lemon Star’, ‘Tangerine Gem’ (Tagetes tenuifolia), Sweet Marjoram (Origanum majorana), Mexican Mint Marigold (Tagetes lucida), Passion Flower; ‘Blue Bouquet’ (Passiflora caerulea) , ‘Maypop’ (Passiflora incarnata), Philodedron; ‘Imperial Red’ (Philodendron Erubescens), Red Sister Cabbage Palm (Cordyline fruticosa), Red Veined Sorrel (Rumex sanguineus), Roselle Jamaican Hibiscus (Hibiscus sabdariffa), Saint John’s Wort (Hypericum perforatum), Sweet fern (Comptonia peregrina), Toadlily (Tricyrtis hirta), Torch Tithonia (Tithonia rotundifolia), Tulsi ‘Kapoor’ (Ocimum sanctum), Turmeric (Curcurmin aeruginosa), West Indian Lemon Grass (Cymbopogon citratus), White Turtlehead (Chelone glabra), Wild Indigo (Baptisia australis)
Turmeric, known as haridra in Sanskrit, is used in Ayurvedic traditional medicine to balance the body’s energy, aids digestion and reduce inflammation. origins in India and the subtropical regions of Southeast Asia and Polynesia where it is called ōlena.
Passionflower, or maypop, also called mahcawq by the Powhatan people, is known for its distinctive purple flowers and has antioxidant and tonic properties. Various species have grown wild on Turtle Island (North America) and also in Guyana for centuries.
Mexican mint marigold, cempasúchil or yauhtli in the Aztec language Nahuatl, is an anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, and digestive aid, as well as a spiritual window between the living and dead, having been grown for thousands of generations in Mexico and South America.
Sweet fern, also known as Alikwsimozi in Wôbanakiak and “sweet non-fern” by Anishinaabe ethnobotanist Mary Siisip Geniusz, has powerful cleansing and soothing properties as a topical relief for poison ivy and as a remedy for the lungs and blood. It has been and continues to be cultivated in the woodlands of Turtle Island.
A nomadic garden was developed in collaboration with Suchitra Mattai and the Socrates’ Horticulture team
Images: Scott Lynch
Courtesy of the artist and Roberts Projects, Los Angeles
Image credit: Scott Lynch
In this immersive installation, Mattai meticulously hand-weaves thousands of vintage saris into monumental-sized tapestries, each spanning 30 to 40 feet. Crafted through a unique process combining weaving and embroidery techniques passed down from Mattai’s grandmothers, these tapestries aim to reunite South Asian communities that have been dispersed through colonization or other means. Notice the transition between two blended colors in each pod, where one hue seemingly flows into the next as you move from pod to pod. Abstracted topographies emerge within the tapestries, at times resembling blurred brushstrokes, while the sculptural forms appear to have risen from the earth below. These continental shapes echo the dynamic movements of tectonic plates and evoke memories of the glacial deposits Mattai observed during her upbringing in Nova Scotia. The mirrored surfaces reflect clouds, birds, and trees, uniting the sky and earth with the Park’s natural surroundings. With this installation the artist asks, “Why do monuments have to be static? Instead of celebrating those in power, why can’t they celebrate the process of transformation and adaptation inherent in the migrations of individuals and communities?”
Courtesy of the artist and Roberts Projects, Los Angeles
Image credit: Scott Lynch
On the Broadway Billboard, Mattai presents a collage depicting young girls playfully dancing hand in hand—a celebration of innocence and new futures. This work is part of an ongoing collage series utilizing pages from Owen Jones’s 1856 book, Grammar of Ornament, widely critiqued for its Eurocentric perspective that marginalizes non-Western decorative traditions and simplifies cultural complexities. By reappropriating and remixing patterns from Jones’s “Indian No. 2” into the composition and narrative, Mattai dismantles stereotypes and empowers her female subjects with agency. The adorned gold trees symbolize the tree of life, a motif frequently employed by the artist as she reflects on the enduring bonds spanning generations of South Asian women.
Courtesy of the artist and Roberts Projects, Los Angeles
Image credit: Scott Lynch
Mattai’s work reimagines and transforms histories of labor, migration, and colonial exploitation into a rich visual language of material abundance. Here, Mattai adorns the Park’s grove with seven orbs intricately woven and braided with vintage saris, featuring hues of blue and orange. This installation marks a significant expansion of an ongoing series of hanging sculptures of the same name, previously exclusive to indoor gallery settings. By situating these works within the natural environment of the Park, the artist invites them to seamlessly integrate into the flora and fauna of their setting. The title, phala, alludes to various notions of fruit, including femininity and fertility, while also drawing from the Sanskrit term that signifies the “fruit of one’s actions” in Hinduism and Buddhism. Mattai poignantly reflects, “Imagine celebrating the fruit of thousands of years’ worth of women’s domestic labor.”