Sweatshirt
Ariya G.
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“There must be 8, Ariy"", my Ajji shouted. "Why?" I asked. "Eight katori is a must!" she replied, holding a large silver plate surrounded by eight carefully placed steel bowls. Every day after school, I would stay with my grandmother. While I did my homework, she would make various dishes to fill each katori. She would painstakingly prepare a sweet dish, five different "Sabjis," rice, peppered buttermilk, and dahl, and carefully place it around the rim of the Thali plate. I was always mesmerized watching her as she cooked intensely, hyper-focused, and determined to prepare a delectable meal for my grandfather.
My grandfather always ate first. Only after finishing his meal would my Ajji then sit to eat. Watching this, I always wondered why she worked so hard to cook but only enjoyed her food after my grandfather finished eating. This daily gesture was deeply entrenched in my mind and challenged me to attempt to understand cultural tradition and patriarchy.
It is a culmination of moments like this where time, distance, and generational differences create a gap between me and my culture, fueling my yearning to learn, understand, and navigate my different worlds. Often voices clash, argue, concede, overlap, and evolve as I take in the world around me. I use art to navigate, process, express my views, and understand myself and the world. I choose to paint because it can evolve and allows for change. Paint allows me to envision an idea loosely and then refine it as my mind changes. Whether navigating the dichotomy of East Indian heritage and the American community, Roe v. Wade overturning, the oppressed Dalit women of India, or even the nostalgia I feel towards childhood joy, art is my tool to put forth my views into the world. My portfolio encompasses my effort to look inward and expose my beliefs, views, and experiences. Through each piece, I attempt to bring out my emotion while hoping the audience can relate to what I feel.
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My art practice enables me to understand my identity and put forth my views into the world. I can explore aspects of my East Indian culture and American lifestyle while critiquing the opposing, ever-changing rules emanating from both.
