Art | | Page 2

Scene from Kush, a short film by Shubhashish Bhutiani. (Source: Kush website)

Kush, film about 1984 anti-Sikh riots, to be screened at Venice film festival

August 22, 2013 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

Based on a true story, Kush is a short film set in Delhi in the aftermath of the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in October, 1984, when organized mobs engaged in an anti-Sikh pogrom in India’s capital city and beyond. Thousands of innocent Sikhs were killed, burned alive, beaten, raped and tortured to avenge the Prime Minister’s death. To this day, few — including government officials implicated in the massacre — have ever been held to account by India’s […]

Categories: 1984, Art, TV/Movies • Tags: 1984 anti-Sikh riots, Indira Gandhi, Kush, Shubhashish Bhutiani, Venice International Film Festival

Elderly Sikhs writing. (Source: SikhNet)

Are we heading towards a Sikh renaissance?

August 15, 2013 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

On SikhNet, Dr. I.J. Singh and Guruka Singh survey the Sikh voice across its diaspora with a comprehensive inventory of bloggers, scholars and authors, but also look to the future of that voice: …in North America, a land with less than 300 years as a nation and a fickle memory, we Sikhs have a relatively formidable history; for instance, Sikh workers helped build the Panama Canal in 1903-04. But effectively as a community here we are only about 40 years […]

Categories: Art, Literature, Reflections • Tags: Dr. I.J. Singh, Guruka Singh, Sikh renaissance, SikhNet

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Junior Sikh Coalition invites submissions for art book

August 9, 2013 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

The Junior Sikh Coalition is an initiative of the Sikh Coalition to help develop leaders in local communities, providing young Sikhs with experience in organizing, advocacy, diversity education and civil rights. In a new project, the Junior Sikh Coalition is harnessing the power of art in advocacy with an unprecedented art collection called the Nirbhau Nirvair Poetry & Art Book to bring attention to issues such as bullying and hate crimes. Young Sikhs across to country are invited to submit […]

Categories: Art, Civil Rights, Literature • Tags: Junior Sikh Coalition, Nirbhau Nirvair Poetry & Art Book

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Telling the stories of children of immigrants in New York & Berlin who challenge boundaries & reimagine belonging. (Source: with WINGS and ROOTS Kickstarter page)

What is behind the hyphenated American identity?

July 10, 2013 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

An article in the Boston Review by sociologist Claude Fischer (via The Dish) considers the creation of the hyphenated identities among the more recent immigrant populations in the United States, citing Mexican Americans as a case study: For example, a recent study [1] compared the answers of Hispanics who took a survey in English to those who took it in Spanish. The English speakers expressed more “Hispanic Consciousness” than did the Spanish-speakers. They were more likely to say that it […]

Categories: Art, Reflections, Reports/Studies • Tags: assimilation, Boston Review, Claude Fischer, hyphenated identity, Immigration, Mexican American, with WINGS and ROOTS

Arpita Singh's "Wish Dream" was recently auctioned for $2,223,744. (Source: All Art News)

Is interest in Sikh art growing?

July 8, 2013 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

India’s Financial Chronicle highlights a growing interest in artwork produced by Sikhs or related to Sikh themes, and not just from a by-gone era, but also from more contemporary artists: In recent times, there has also been a move to categorise contemporary artists from the Punjab belt under the Sikh Art umbrella. So it now covers Sikh pianters [sic] such as Arpita Singh, her husband Paramjeet Singh and the ever popular Manjit Bawa. Arpita’s mural titled Wish Dream, fetched Rs […]

Categories: Art, Profiles • Tags: Arpita Singh, Manjit Bawa, mural, Sikh art, Wish Dream

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Kultar's Mime playbill. (Source: United for Justice with Peace)

New MA theater company debuts play about 1984 anti-Sikh pogroms

June 27, 2013 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

The Boston Globe features a young theater company in Hopkinton, Massachusetts (30 miles west of Boston), called Two Paths Productions. Started by a group of teens, their first production is called Kultar’s Mime, an adaptation of the poem of the same name by Sarbpreet Singh (who has been featured on this blog before) about the 1984 anti-Sikh pogroms in New Delhi, India, in which thousands of Sikhs were murdered in organized killing after the assassination of Indian Prime Minister Indira […]

Categories: 1984, Art, Events, Profiles • Tags: Hopkinton, Kultar's Mime, Massachusetts, Mehr Kaur, Sarbpreet Singh, Two Paths Productions

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"Waris Ahluwalia, 2011. Photo by Norman Jean Roy." (Source: Flavorwire)

Your weekend Waris, part II

May 31, 2013 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

Another weekend is upon us, and New York actor/designer Waris Ahluwalia presents himself (via @Kaurista) just in time: Through Sunday, August 18, 2013, the Rhode Island School of Design Museum in Providence, Rhode Island, is hosting a photo exhibition about the “dandy” fashion trend called Artist/Rebel/Dandy, which features Waris Ahluwalia: Rather than following strict definitions, Artist/Rebel/Dandy features myriad manifestations of the dandy’s style and persona, from the discreet sophistication and consummate elegance of Beau Brummell (1778–1840) to the romantics and […]

Categories: Art, Events, Profiles • Tags: Artist/Rebel/Dandy, Fashion, Providence, Rhode Island, Rhode Island School of Design Museum, Waris Ahluwalia

Guru Nanak portrait c. 1770 (source: The Sikh Foundation)

Picture of the Day: 18th century portrait of Guru Nanak

March 29, 2013 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

According to the Sikh Foundation, the Satinder Kaur Kapany Gallery at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, California, is “the only permanent collection of Sikh Art in a North American museum.” Due to the delicate nature of the collection, the pieces in the gallery are rotated every six months. The Sikh Foundation provides a sample of the artwork on display during this spring, including the above portrait that is believed to be of Guru Nanak (the founder and first […]

Categories: Art, Events • Tags: Asian Art Museum, California, Guru Nanak, San Francisco, Satinder Kaur Kapany Gallery

Preeti Kaur, a poet/writer from California. (Photo credit: Jonathan B. Tucker. Source: The Aerogram)

The Aerogram’s interview with Preeti Kaur, Part II

March 7, 2013 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

The Aerogram has followed up last week’s interview with writer Preeti Kaur (a talented writer from California) with a second installment in which she talks about the back-story of her poems “Letters Home” and “You Bring Out the Punjabi in Me,” the Oak Creek tragedy, and struggles of Sikh Americans: It’s very fashionable amongst Sikh men these days to celebrate their turbans and flaunt their turbans as an accessory representing a resilient attitude (more power to them), to reverse the […]

Categories: Art, Literature, Profiles • Tags: Preeti Kaur, The Aerogram

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Considering the experience of Sikhs in America.

Category Archives: Art

Kush, film about 1984 anti-Sikh riots, to be screened at Venice film festival

Are we heading towards a Sikh renaissance?

Junior Sikh Coalition invites submissions for art book

What is behind the hyphenated American identity?

Is interest in Sikh art growing?

New MA theater company debuts play about 1984 anti-Sikh pogroms

Your weekend Waris, part II

Picture of the Day: 18th century portrait of Guru Nanak

The Aerogram’s interview with Preeti Kaur, Part II