Deans Award Winner
ADFAS (Australian Decorative & Fine Arts Society), Yarra Branch – Young and Emerging Artists Fund Award Winner
Diya Mathur’s practice explores the transgenerational impacts of the 1947 Partition of India on both collective and personal identities, investigating the liminal spaces where care and violence, rigidity and fluidity, and dislocation and belonging intersect. Through material metaphors, the work examines how the legacies of colonial histories and enduring power structures continue to shape contemporary understandings of identity.
In Mind the Map, the artist uses turmeric to create an ephemeral map on the floor, establishing a cartography that underscores the transient nature of territory and its representation. The grains of turmeric, resisting containment within defined boundaries, generate a sense of tension that reflects the shifting nature and porousness of borders. By introducing contradictions at the material level, the work seeks to expose the inherent ambiguities and paradoxes embedded within dominant systems of control.
Ultimately, Mind the Map aims to transform perceptions of borders, challenging viewers to reconsider the relational dynamics that unfold across these fluid and ever-evolving divides. Through this material investigation, the artist seeks to provoke a deeper engagement with the complexities and instabilities inherent in notions of place and belonging.
