Twelve Gates Arts is proud to present What is Destined: Stories of Resistance and Memory, a group exhibition featuring works by Kiki Salem, Shrujana Niranjani Shridhar, Shabir Baloch, Ameer Hamza and Mohd. Intiyaz, opening on Friday November 3rd, 2023.
Opening Reception: November 3rd, 2023, 5-8pm
Philadelphia, PA, November 3, 2023 – What is Destined: Stories of Resistance and Memory is a group exhibition that explores how systems of power seek to control land and movement through space via avenues of occupation, apartheid, militarization, violence and caste. Highlighting the history of protest movements as well as using motifs of vacancy and pattern design, artists acknowledge the histories of resistance to injustices within their own communities.
Kiki Salem’s digital animations evoke patterns from textiles designed by her ancestors in Palestine and motifs from the architecture they inhabited, using new technologies to reconfigure material traditions. This animated transformation is a bridge between past and present and serves as an evocative response to the erasure of Palestinian history, often rendered invisible and appropriated by occupying powers.
For years, Pakistani security forces have waged a brutal counterinsurgency against the Baloch nationalist movement—a separatist group located in the resource-rich, yet economically-neglected province of Balochistan in Southwest Pakistan. In his paintings, Shabir Baloch seduces his audience with bright colors and images of daily tasks or children playing, but the use of vacant space and “offscreen” entities address the violence of occupation, gender disparity, illiteracy, and poverty that make it difficult for the Baloch people to advocate for themselves.
Ameer Hamza’s work also uses the metaphor of vacancy to portray how lives are lost in conflict, contrasting fleeting existence with enduring symbols of violence and war memorabilia. Inspired by illuminated scriptures such as The Shahnameh, he sheds light on the glorification of violence during wars, focusing on the often-ignored aftermath. Hamza's art reflects on selective history, where concealed events and obscured details breed uncertainty and lead to society's acceptance of sugar-coated falsehoods. This is a powerful metaphor for discourse about history's unreliability, deceit, and hidden facets. Based on the artist’s personal experience of desertion, Hamza removes all figures from his work, challenging the necessity of militarization in general, and imagining a future world where everyone is a deserter of state-sanctioned violence.
Shrujana Niranjani Shridhar who founded the Dalit Panthers Archives, works with historical documents and skillfully weaves narratives of empowerment into her work. Her illustration of the Mahad Satyagraha portrays the poignant struggle for water rights, embodying the enduring spirit of Dalit rights movements led by Dalit women and Babasaheb Ambedkar. Similarly, her depiction of the Dalit Panthers highlights the publication of Raja Dhale’s provocative essay “Kala Svatantra Divas” (Black Independence Day), published in Sadhna magazine on 15 August 1972. The essay exposed the sexual harassment of a Buddhist woman in Brahamangaon village in Parbhani district and emphasizes the movements unwavering determination to confront adversity and censorship.
Mohd. Intiyaz’s work spotlights the history of protest movements in India over almost 200 years. His Protest Series reference important actions such as the protests of Hindu women resulting in the The Hindu Widows' Remarriage Act of 1856, to the Dalit Panthers and recent Farmer Protests in Tamil Nadu. Intiyaz personally participated in the renowned Shaheen Bagh sit-in, a significant movement led by Muslim women in Delhi, protesting the discriminatory Citizenship Act introduced by the Hindutva government. Lasting 101 days, the sit-in resonated with songs of resistance and artistic expression. Intiyaz's murals at the sit-in, showcased in this exhibition as small paintings, reflect the essence of protest and resistance.
Collectively, these artists use their work as a tool for self-actualization to combat erasure, assert their connection to the land and declare the future existence of their communities.
Exhibition Information: What is Destined: Stories of Resistance and Memory, is a group exhibition featuring works by Kiki Salem, Shrujana Niranjani Shridhar, Shabir Baloch, Ameer Hamza and Mohd. Intiyaz. It is on view from November 3, 2023 to January 13, 2024 at Twelve Gates Arts, 106 North 2nd St. Philadelphia, PA 19106.
Gallery Hours: Thursday-Saturday 11 AM - 6 PM or by appointment.
About Twelve Gates Arts
Founded in 2011, Twelve Gates Arts (12G) is an arts gallery located in Old City, Philadelphia that uplifts South & West Asian diasporic artistic voices within the local cultural landscape. 12G quarterly visual exhibitions and community events focus on an emerging art landscape that maps the cultures of migration, inclusive of the systems that influence it: race, gender, creed, empire, and economy. A nod to the archetypal fortified walls that surround Imperial medieval cities worldwide, our namesake underlies our exhibitions and events, which celebrate the melange of cultural identity that foments as peoples move and settle.
Shabir Baloch is from Dera Murad Jamali Balochistan which is rough and remote. Born 25th of October 1985 acquiring early and high school education from his hometown. Shabir was a commercial sign board painter before he moved to Lahore, as he was admitted in National college of arts (NCA), earning his bachelors in fine arts (painting). He has done his M.Phil In Art education from Beaconhouse National University. Currently he is teaching at Lahore grammar school international and FCCU. Shabir chose to reside in Lahore to continue his creative adventure as a painter. His paintings reveal hardships of human life which are projected in a humorous notion. The idea behind his paintings illustrates human nature of laughing at someone else’s pain like he used to say; “Nothing is funnier than misfortune”. Shabir has done many exhibitions throughout the country and abroad.
Ameer Hamza, born in Gujranwala in 1994 and currently based in Lahore Pakistan, is a visual artist whose journey is deeply rooted in embracing uncertainty to foster collective understanding. He earned his BFA from the National College of Arts, Lahore in 2019, specializing in Indo-Persian Miniature Painting, and was awarded a Distinction for his dedication. Driven by a fascination with history, a passion for colors, and a desire to challenge the status quo, Ameer's art engages in a compelling dialogue with the tumultuous narratives of the past, particularly focusing on conflict and warfare. He envisions himself as 'just another dot in the world,' aiming to unravel historical layers and inspire introspection, empathy, and contemplation. His art sheds light on the intricate interplay between past events and their lasting impact on our present.
Mohd. Intiyaz Born on June 6, 1995 in Jharkhand India, Mohd. Intiyaz witnessed various social situations and family experiences that impacted his memories and artistic sensitivity. The thematic line of his work focuses mainly on his autobiography based on childhood memories marked by migration experiences and on marginal social realities that he has identified in his everyday environment. He pursued his Master in Painting at University of Jamia Millia Islamia Delhi in 2019. He has participated in numerous residencies, biennales, and exhibitions in India, most recently his solo show Baad Me Aana (Come Later) at Method, a contemporary art space in Mumbai (India).
Kiki Salem (b.1995. Al-Bireh, Palestine) is a St. Louis-based multidisciplinary Artist, Writer, Educator, Public Speaker, and Abolitionist whose work covers topics surrounding orientalism, occidental assimilation, and the Palestinian question. She has given lectures and led workshops at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, The University of Chicago, UCLA, The University of Minnesota, and MaTovu STL. Kiki is a member of the Screwed Arts Collective in St. Louis. Her wearable collection, PunkAssArab, can be found on Instagram as @punk_ass_arab.
Shrujana Niranjani Shridhar (b. 1992, she/her) is an artist and illustrator based in Mumbai. Her practice examines the intersection of caste, gender, and capitalism. It honours the resilience of communities that fought caste and gender oppressions for centuries. Her works have been published in magazines in India and abroad. Shrujana has written and illustrated children’s books. She runs the Dalit Panther Archive, digitising and archiving Little Magazines and literature published by the members of the Dalit Panther movement. She is a co-founder of Mavelinadu Collective, an anti-caste publication She has received the SSAF–AAA Research Grant for Archiving Histories of Art, Ideas, and Visual Culture in 2019. Her works have been exhibited at Clark House Initiative, Mumbai, The Showroom, London, China Residencies at Centre for Media at Risk at the University of Pennsylvania, Arts House, Melbourne.