Growing and developing as a young woman, I have constantly looked to other females as my beautiful subjects and works of art themselves, but never in the mirror. I rarely saw myself as a possible subject as an artist. After years of projecting my views of others onto a piece of paper or through a lens I challenged myself to create my first successful self portrait. Through the color red, please do not perceive this as anger towards the male gaze (however I am always angry at the male gaze) but as anger towards how long it took for me to reject the beauty standard and accept myself. This collection of eighteen panels is the embodiment of my personal struggle with my identity and self worth. 

The majority of my work revolves around the idea of holding a deeper meaning. There are many traits in my photographs and media work that reveal this such as a photograph where something feels off. Science fiction plays a major role in my art making practice. Movies and tv shows affect my work even if I don’t realize it. I have a fascination with Film and Cinematography which is why Media has captured my attention. Storytelling has always been important to me. What excites me with video is that there’s an opportunity to create an entire world revolving around characters and stories. In terms of Photography, I often find myself wondering what can be recreated in Photoshop and what can be recreated in-camera. Product photography is always used as a source of inspiration for me, especially for my Thesis. I have found myself slowly embracing in-camera effects and I have been experimenting. One idea that intrigues me is creating an effect that might look Photoshopped, when in reality, it isn’t. My love for Photoshop began with my fascination with the corporate world, magazines, websites, movie posters, etc. I always looked up to big budget companies, and recently working as a photo editor for a company has opened my eyes. Not everything in an image is the truth. There could be manipulations invisible to the naked eye. As an artist, I’ve always wanted my artwork to ask questions about society and the world around us rather than just take or make a pretty photo. If I were to compare myself to other artists, I would not be able to. I have learned so many things from many artists that my work is practically an amalgamation of everyone I met and learned from. Artists that inspire me are Hiroshi Sugimoto, Sarah Charlesworth, Gregory Crewdson, Edward Weston, Denis Villeneuve, Anna atkins, James, Turrell, and Olafur Eliasson Gregory Crewdson, Magritte, Tim Davis, Ai Wei Wei and John Giorno.. These are people who I believe are using their crafts in unconventional and new ways and I aspire to be an artist like that.

ROCK-CYCLE-PEE-DEA: ALL FOR US is about pure, unadulterated honesty for honesty’s sake. I wanted it to be extremely personal and if necessary, to be abrasive. I didn’t plan on starting a dialogue on relationships or anything specifically, but I definitely wanted to open up on the past five years and their effect on me. And it also has its humorous moments because I really wanted it to be authentic which meant it had to be all over the place.

I take photos in order to build with light and shape. Being a formalist, I seek to capture unique shapes, lines, and silhouettes, often switching between structures that are rigid and geometric, to ones that are more organic, natural, and abstract. 

Coming from a Jewish Modern Orthodox family, I was raised with very strict guidelines during my life. Judaism is not just a set of beliefs about G-d, man, and the universe. Judaism is a comprehensive way of life, filled with rules and practices that affect every aspect of life: what you do when you wake up in the morning, what you can and cannot eat, what you can and cannot wear, how to groom yourself, how to conduct business, who you can marry, how to observe the holidays and Shabbat, and perhaps most important, how to treat G-d and other people. Through Judaism, I’ve been able to articulate what I’m seeing because what I’m seeing is also being directly framed by my familial life and religious affiliation and how my life is actually structured in a very specific way. 

Light is one of the overarching, central, definitive metaphors for Jewish understanding of all of reality and I would say that my relationship with time and my use of light, is a symbolic expression and way of finding control in my life. Using forms that are perceptually appealing and being able to control light and build space using light helps me create order in my life that helps deviate the anxiety that stems from growing up in a rule-driven environment. Using constructed forms, light and shadow, and photographing like a formalist helps me deal with my relationship with time.

They say parents are the ones who give you life, but your grandparents are the ones that teach you about culture. Born a child to immigrant parents, growing up was a weird experience with both American and Punjabi influences. Not being born from Punjab sometimes makes me feel out of touch with my culture because I didn’t experience things the same way kids do growing up over there. However, growing up in America did provide some opportunities I wouldn’t have back in Punjab and I am grateful for that. This Protest is important to me because it helps me stay connected to my culture, the Sikh community in Punjab and stick up for what’s right. 

The Sikh community is no stranger to injustice especially by the Indian Government and the rise of the farmers’ protest began when the prime minister of India, Narendra Modi, introduced the farm bills. Farmers are protesting because the bill doesn’t support their livelihoods. I wanted to bring this issue to the light because it is an important social issue to discuss world wide and not just in our community. In addition, I wanted to shed some light on the way these farmers are being treated while protesting peacefully on the streets. 

My work is a balanced mix of paintings, printmaking, and sculpture because these are the main mediums I work in outside or in school. Paintings help convey certain imagery and colors that are common to see when in research of the protest. Prints in my work display patterning, which I do very often in the print shop and sculpture helps take up physical space in the gallery. A common theme in my work would be colors because they play a major role in the imagery or objects. Something I would say was passed down from my mother would be sewing and there are some sewing aspects in my work that I incorporated. The title of my show is tied to my topic because it was one of the chants spoken at the protests happening in India. 

I would want the potential audience to be curious about what’s going on in Punjab and why elders, women, and men are being treated poorly while fighting for something they believe in and something that affects their livelihoods. Essentially, I would like the viewer to relate in some sort of way and connect this protest with other major or minor protest movements that are happening or have happened in the past. Some feelings I would imagine would be surprised, enraged, empathy, curious, confused, etc. 

**This show is dedicated to my late grandmother who passed away earlier in the year and couldn’t see the show in person** 

Also, special shout out to Deep Sidhu, actor and activist of the Farmers Protest, and may he rest in peace. Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh.