Arijit Bhattacharyya was International Artist in Residence at Artlink in September 2024. During his residency he engaged in dialogue with local community and artists and facilitated a number of events, including a lecture performance How Political is (y)our Curry? and a walk as part of the Inishowen Walking Festival. He also completed several significant projects, including a video work, three dresses, and an ambitious, immersive mural which resulted in the exhibition “Whispering Sea” in the Saldanha gallery at Fort Dunree. This exhibition reflected the conceptual premise of migration and social science fiction, which he has been exploring in his practice.
For Whispering Sea Arijit painted the entire Saldanha Gallery floor to ceiling in Prussian Blue. Upon this background, which was suggestive of the tide moving, he painted huge humanlike forms and installed three part-human characters in the gallery. These characters were also featured in the video which was directed and produced from start to finish, primarily in another timezone, during Arijit’s residency. The film premiered as part of the exhibition.
The exhibition and video, grounded in the postcolonial and neocolonial social resistance movements, delves into the interconnected histories of the Indian and Atlantic Oceans, exploring the themes of migration, identity, and the transformative power of imagination. Through a multi-layered narrative, Arijit uses the sea as both a literal and symbolic force to evoke themes of freedom, justice, and transformation.
Arijit Bhattacharyya is an interdisciplinary artist living and working between Weimar, Germany, and Bally, India. His art practice crosses the boundaries of installations, textiles, drawings, films, publications, and cooking, centering on themes of migration, social resistance, and history.
