Remen Chopra
W. Van Der Vaart
Curated by
Feroze Gujral
Remen Chopra W. Van Der Vaart is a multi-disciplinary artist. She creates site-specific works using with varied media such as photography, drawing, sculpture, textiles and sound, to reflect upon personal and familial histories of migration. Her work is a unique assemblage of intimate moments, poetry and personal objects that were passed on matrilineally, from one generation to the other. She would like to explore the cartography of memory and how non-linear narratives are fabricated out of scattered fragments. The artist recalls family stories of Tehran, Rawalpindi and Shimla, as narrated to her by her grandmother. The artist would like to map the history of these spaces and the long journey to locate the memories evoked by found objects and by embroidery. Through new by lanes using multi-layered artworks that will explore the idea of the feminine as both earth and home.
Read MoreThe artist will be working on a series of personal spaces that encapsulate her memories of home and her relationship with the landscape and a return to the maternal source. She would like to explore further the idea of the earth as feminine and as a sacred space of belonging. This concept manifests itself from a micro level of personal spaces that evoke the memories of home to a macro level of the earth which we call home. Home serves as the leitmotiv in one's history, identity and sense of belonging. The structure that houses us becomes a reflection of our personal, ideological and cultural pasts. It forms our notions of comfort and stability – we build our homes and our homes build us.
The artist is inspired by architecture and constructs complex monochromatic, performance-based montages that draw significantly from the aesthetics of theatre. She meticulously layers photographs and drawings with glass or mulmul, which capture a fleeting moment in time. The figures are staged, sometimes in transition, evoking a sense of mystery as well as nostalgia. The use of light, symmetry, geometry and patterns, play a key role in Remen's artistic practice. The feminine form sees a strong presence in her world of nostalgia, represented as figures or abstracted as undulating landscapes capturing ideas of regeneration, nurture and balance.
Remen's work bridges the past, present and future, where time is seen as a continuous loop of incidences.
Works
The Gujral Foundation
Request Price & Availability
36 x 49.5 cm The Gujral Foundation
Request Price & Availability
About Feroze Gujral
Feroze Gujral is a philanthropist, art aficionado, patron, businesswoman, columnist and media personality.
She is the Founder and Director of The Gujral Foundation, a non-profit trust set up in 2008, along with her husband Mohit Gujral (the son of the renowned Indian modern artist Satish Gujral). She is also the Founder Director of Outset India, the Indian chapter of Outset Contemporary Art Fund, which is the largest acquisition art fund in the world, present in 9 countries, established in 2011.
The Gujral Foundation has been steadfast in their dedication to support Indian art, design and culture both locally and globally. It has been recognized as one of India's leading art foundations. Feroze Gujral defines her vision for The Gujral Foundation as For India, By India and about Indian art and culture, we focus on India pride projects, "India is truly my faith" says Gujral.Over the last decade, the Gujral Foundation has supported 150+ artists and 50+ exhibitions in India and internationally. Key projects include My East is Your West - a collateral event at the 56th Venice Biennale, curated by Feroze, produced and presented by the Foundation. The foundation has also commissioned projects for Contour Biennale 8, the 11th Shanghai Biennale, the 8th Berlin Biennale, the London Design Biennale and Kochi-Muziris Biennale. Most recently the first architectural pavilion titled 'The Song of the Earth and the Sky' was displayed in the revitalized gardens of Sunder Nursery, New Delhi.
They have supported numerous projects by other organizations including 'V. S. Gaitonde at The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, 'Forgotten Masters: Indian Painting for the East India Company' at The Wallace Collection in the UK, Colomboscope – Sea Change in Sri Lanka etc.The Foundation has strong educational institutional partnerships with CEPT University and Shiv Nadar University, National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) as well as other cultural institutions including Goethe-Institut, The Foundation for Indian Contemporary Art, Pro-Helvetia, Japan Foundation, Danish Art Foundation and The Institute français en Inde.
Read MoreFeroze Gujral is regarded as one of India's leading art patrons. She is currently on the Trustee Board of Kochi Muziris Biennale of which she is a Founding Patron. She was previously on the international board of the Guggenheim Museum in New York, the Serpentine Gallery in London, and the advisory board of IGNCA, New Delhi.
Feroze has also been a funding patron for several years of artist grants, awards and prizes including the Gujral Foundation Excellence Award at CEPT University, annual prizes at National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT). They also sponsor an art and a soccer prize at Gordonstoun School, UK.
Apart from the arts, the Gujral's have had a long-standing history of patronage and a number of initiatives have been started by the family post-partition including a school, orphanage, home for destitute women and the Pushpa Gujral Science City, all in Jalandhar, Punjab. Apart from that they are also founder supporters of the forum for street children in Hyderabad, which includes a home for destitute boys that was started in 1989. They also support various other NGOs like Nanhi Chaun (girl child), Save the Children and White Ribbon (safe childbirth). Feroze has for many years also been part of the young parliamentarian's initiative for malnutrition.
Feroze Gujral apart from being a very successful, well recognized model and media personality is also a successful businesswoman. She ran a design studio called Fizzaro dealing in fine bone china products and customized table accessories, exporting to multiple countries. She was a founding partner of Broadcast India, the first live broadband streaming platform in India. She was previously the Director of Design Plus, an architecture and design company, founded by her architect and real estate developer husband Mohit Gujral, and is the Founder Director of the international art design consultancy FMG advisors.
Feroze was also an ambassador for World Wildlife Fund, with a particular interest in the welfare of the Indian elephant. She is a volunteer for Teach for India and the Founder Curator for TEDx Delhi. She has also been brand ambassador and advisor to numerous leading international fashion brands including Burberry, Gucci, Tod's etc.As a contemporary cultural commentator, she has contributed multiple articles to leading publications including The Indian Express, Financial Chronicle, Seminar, Vogue, Elle and Condé Nast Traveller amongst others. She was also host of her own TV show 'Tonight with Feroze'.