“This project shows there are these nuggets of gold buried in the archive [that] are forgotten today and are also not necessarily seen as part of American art history.” – Shelly Bahl, Curator of What is Seen and Unseen: Mapping South Asian American Art in Chicago.
In a recent article in the Chicago Reader, Xiao daCunha examines the significance of the work presented in South Asia Institute’s exhibition “What is Seen and Unseen: Mapping South Asian American Art in Chicago.” daCunha’s analysis of the exhibition’s two primary components— one showcasing under documented works from 1893 through the 1980s, the other highlighting contemporary South Asian artists from Chicago— emphasizes the deficiency of South Asian voices in Chicago’s known art history.
“By making visible what has always existed in the archive and mapping through the past into the contemporary, this exhibition investigates the absence and presence of the South Asian body through time and helps write the true experience and influence of South Asian art in Chicago’s cultural landscape.” – Xiao daCunha, Chicago Reader.
