Jameel Arts Centre is showcasing three pivotal works by multidisciplinary Australian artist and researcher Sancintya Mohini Simpson: Vessel (iteration #5), Jahajin, and Ṭāpū. These pieces examine the exploitation of indentured (bonded) labour by colonial sugar industries and the enduring impacts of this system. This exhibition is part of Jameel Arts Centre’s initiative Artist’s Rooms, a series of solo exhibitions by Middle Eastern, Asian, and African artists, curated from the Art Jameel Collection. Simpson’s works will be on view until 24 November 2024.
Simpson, a descendant of bonded labourers transported from South India to South Africa between 1860 and 1911, pays tribute to her ancestors by offering a layered portrayal of their experiences, alongside the broader histories of indentured labour and diaspora communities. Employing a full range of mediums, the artist weaves together research, materiality, and metaphor to bridge history, memory, and the displacement of communities across oceans.
Vessel (iteration #5) (2024), a large-scale installation, features black clay pots set within the earth, their dark hue contrasting with typical earthy reds. According to Simpson, the black tones reference the kālā pani, or “black waters,” symbolising oceanic journeys. These dark shades cast shadows of the lasting legacy of the sugar industry and the concealed residues of its complex history.
Jahajin (2021) is a series of miniature paintings that recount the struggles faced by Indian women taken as indentured labourers, highlighting the lingering effects of this exploitation. Ṭāpū (2022), another series of paintings, depicts the harsh conditions endured by Indian labourers on their journeys away from their homeland. Each art piece offers a reflective narrative, intertwining historical and emotional threads that shape Simpson’s evocative installation.
About the artist
Sancintya Mohini Simpson (b.1991, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia) resides in her hometown. She earned a Bachelor’s degree in Photography with Honours from the Queensland College of Art and Design (QCAD) at Griffith University in 2014 and received a Graduate Certificate in Writing, Editing, and Publishing from the University of Queensland in 2016. Since 2021, she has been pursuing a Doctorate of Visual Arts at QCAD.
Simpson’s work delves into themes of migration, memory, and trauma, focusing on gaps and silences within colonial archives. The artist uses installation, performance, video, experimental sound, poetry, and painting inspired by Indian miniature painting — which Simpson learnt in Jaipur (Rajasthan, India) in 2013 — to create narratives and rituals reflecting on the experiences and lives of the women in her maternal line. Simpson’s practice also includes collaborations with other creatives, particularly her brother Isha Ram Das, a sound artist and composer.
Simpson has presented her art pieces in multiple exhibitions, including par-parā / phus-phusā, Tales of Land and Sea (solo) (Bundanon Art Museum, Shoalhaven, Australia, 2024); Indigo Waves and Other Stories: Re-Navigating the Afrasian Sea and Notions of Diaspora (SAVVY Contemporary, Berlin, Germany, 2023); Busan Biennale 2022: We, on the Rising Wave (Museum of Contemporary Art Busan, Busan, South Korea); Staple: What’s on your plate? (Hayy Jameel, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, 2021); And words were whispered (solo) (1Shanthiroad Studio/Gallery, Bangalore, India, 2019), to name a few. Her artworks have been added to prestigious public collections, such as the Art Gallery of New South Wales (Sydney, Australia), KADIST (Paris, France), and UQ Art Museum (Brisbane), among others.
To get more information about Sancintya Mohini Simpson’s current exhibition, please visit its official web page.
You might also be interested in viewing Night Stone by Candice Lin and Bound: Textiles Between Loss and Repair, a collective show at Green Art Gallery.
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