Surrey Art Gallery is organizing a multidisciplinary artist Keerat Kaur’s solo exhibition Panjabi Garden opening Saturday, January 21 at their winter opening reception.
Panjabi Garden connects with motifs from the natural world to celebrate the Panjabi language and Gurmukhi script. The word “Panjab” was colonized as “Punjab” at the time of the British Raj. “Panj” is the Farsi word for “five,” and “ab” is the Farsi word for “water.” This terminology references the five main rivers—Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas, and Satluj—that flow through the two Panjab regions. When Panjab was divided in 1947 into Pakistan and India, two rivers Beas and Satluj flowed through East Panjab (India) and Jhelum, Chenab, and Ravi became part of West Panjab (Pakistan). “Panjabi” decolonizes the word itself.
The works within Panjabi Garden are inspired by themes, imagery, and text that blossom within Kaur’s recent Panjabi language-learning book of the same name. This exhibition is a collection of multimedia works—poetry, digital illustration, traditional painting, and marble inlay—that facilitates a journey through the lushness of language and script. Panjabi is a language filled with endless treasures, and so many of these gems are yet to be unlocked by generations to come. There are endless books to be read and written, endless songs to be listened to and composed, and endless poems to be shared and received. Panjabi Garden hopes to inspire a connection and re-connection with the wealth of this language.
Keerat Kaur is a Canadian-born artist and architect (Licensed Ontario Association of the Arts) with Sikh-Punjabi roots. Her work takes shape through the disciplines of painting, sculpture, writing, music, and architecture. She gathers inspiration from Indian philosophies to evoke themes of spirituality and fantasia.
Her aesthetic lies in the realm of the surreal, merging mundane and dream-like qualities. Kaur completed elementary and high school in French Immersion, received her BA in 2012 (Western University) and her Master of Architecture in 2016 (U of T) while continuing her formal training in the Dhrupad and Khayaal schools of Indian Classical Music.
With a passion for languages, she reads, writes, and speaks Punjabi, English, French, and Hindi. She is currently studying the ancient language of Braj through the examination of historical Sikh texts. Kaur currently lives and works between Vancouver, BC and London, Ontario. keeratkaur.ca
With a love for illustration, writing, and design, Kaur says, “Panjabi Garden is an amalgamation of my favourite worlds, and it honours the mother tongue in which I uttered my first words.”
The winter opening reception will also celebrate Through the Lattice with select artists from that group exhibition speaking on a panel at 6:30 p.m about where and how we inhabit physical spaces. The evening also recognizes Cindy Mochizuki: Autumn Strawberry (Dance Film) and Surrey Art Teachers Association: Connect.
On Friday, January 27 from 6 to 8 p.m., Kaur will give an artist talk at the Gallery, sharing stories about her Sikh identity and how she balances a career as an apprentice architect, visual artist, designer, and vocal performer. A sarangi performance by Inderpal Gill and Kaur will conclude the event. On Saturday, February 11 from 2 to 4 p.m., visitors to the Gallery can accompany Kaur for a tour of her exhibition in Punjabi. Both events are free.
Rungh is a media partner for Keerat Kaur: Panjabi Garden.
