Artist brings ‘Beautiful’ exhibit to CSUB
Cal State Bakersfield’s Todd Madigan Gallery is pleased to present a solo exhibition of the work of Jagdeep Raina. This is the artist’s first exhibition on the West Coast.
“Beautiful Zameen” — which translates to “beautiful land” — is a series of works that explores the Green Revolution in Punjab in northern India. Implemented in the 1960s, the Green Revolution was a U.S. sponsored agricultural framework based on high-yield seed varieties, intensive irrigation and drainage, and chemical fertilizers and pesticides.
It damaged the landscape in Punjab by causing declining water tables, widespread soil erosion and low forest cover and led to an epidemic of farmer suicides. Global corporate involvement in agriculture and neoliberal policies in India have led to India’s rapid increase in consumption and further exploitation of natural resources.
The material history of South Asia is a central tenet of Raina’s practice, according to a gallery news release. Many of his works possess a geometric border called a phulkari, which is a traditional form of weaving on muslin cloth using hand-dyed and organic materials invented in Punjabi villages.
This inclusion of the phulkari in Raina’s work is significant, given that many phulkari pieces in Punjab disappeared or were destroyed when the British relinquished control over India and during the violent upheaval of the Partition of India and Pakistan. Globalization, the breakdown of Punjabi villages and workplace exploitation of Punjabi women has led to difficulties in the phulkari’s renewal as a collective and collaborative form of art.
The drawings and embroidery in this exhibition have emerged from Raina’s archival research, including a collaborative study of the playwright Satinder Chohan’s photography of the Green Revolution.
Raina’s works depict farmers, agricultural land, and hands that hold crops and photographs, fusing his research with an ancestral material practice. He treats his subjects with care and commemoration, drawing attention to the everyday lived experiences and losses related to the Green Revolution, which was also the catalyst to an exodus of migrants to North America and the UK.
The artist also explores material history through his films, which include video footage, stop-motion animation, poetry and music to position this textile within the phulkari’s broader history.
Prior to the opening reception, a screening of the 1994 film “Narmada: A Valley Rises” by Ali Kazimi will be held at 4 p.m. Thursday in the Dore Theatre’s Albertson Room.
The screening will be immediately
followed by a conversation between Jagdeep Raina and writer Jhani Randhawa. From 6 to 8 p.m., there will be a reception for the exhibition in the Todd Madigan Gallery.
All events are free and open to the public.
The exhibition will remain on display through April 29 at the gallery on campus, 9001 Stockdale Highway.