TARQ presents the first solo exhibition in India by British-Indian artist Amba Sayal-Bennett. “Dispersive Acts” presents a compelling series of sculptures and drawings that navigate the complex intersections of colonial botany, imperial gardens, and contemporary artistic practices.
Sayal-Bennett’s work delves into the layered histories surrounding Mumbai’s Rani Baug (formerly Victoria Gardens), a site deeply rooted in colonial narratives of control and resistance. Her sculptures reimagine botanical forms, blending industrial materials like resin and steel with motifs inspired by the natural world, challenging the constraints of colonial order and exploring the organic disobedience of growth.
Amba Sayal-Bennett is known for her multidisciplinary approach, working across drawing, projection, and sculptural installation. Her practice critically examines the performative nature of abstraction, revealing how it constructs boundaries between what is present, absent, and ‘othered.’ Recent works have focused on the migration of modernist forms within fascist and brutalist architecture, using translation as a method to explore the movement of bodies, knowledge, and forms across different sites, a process inherent to the diasporic experience.
A graduate of Oxford University, The Courtauld Institute of Art, and the Royal College of Art, Sayal-Bennett also holds a PhD from Goldsmiths. Her research has been published with Tate Papers, and she has been featured in significant exhibitions globally, including “Artist’s Rooms” at Jameel Arts Centre, Dubai, and “Geometries of Difference” at Somerset House, London. She co-founded Cypher Billboard, an artist-run public program in London, reflecting her commitment to community engagement and public art.
This exhibition at TARQ is accompanied by a text written by Murtaza Vali, a critic, curator, and art historian whose work explores materialist art histories, minimalisms, and other liminal subjectivities.
Exhibition Dates: Until 21st September 2024
Gallery Hours: Tuesday – Saturday, 11:00 am to 6:30 pm
Location: KK (Navsari) Chambers, Ground Floor, 39 AK Nayak Marg, Fort, Mumbai 400 001
Artwork titles in order of appearance:
Axil, 2024, SLA, Resin, 21×10.8×4 inches,
Tiller, SLA, Resin, 32.3×21.1×4.5 inches,
Seed Coat, SLA, Resin, 12.1×12.1×2.9 inches.
