Suraiya is a Country : Diya Naidu

Often, as people get older, they tell.their stories with an insight and a perception that those of us who are still in a hurry, lack.

There is an agency, a fragility, an acceptance of life's ways.

This has long fascinated the artist.

Her grandmother Suraiya was her best friend

and for many years they shared each other's secrets, gossip and explorations of Allah.

A few years before she passed Diya began recording her conversations with Suraiya.

Covid, with it's violent disruption of lives was a wake up call to Diya - we lost Suraiya and so many of this generation. She felt the need to archive and record as many stories as she could and began interviewing those who had spent much more time than her, on the planet.

In this work she uses some of these stories to construct versions of our past, present and perceived futures, in an attempt to give context to our current reality.

From the personal, to the historical, the domestic , the functional and the political - this work takes us on many journeys. These stories are filtered, archived and interpreted through the artist's moving body.

In doing so Diya opens herself to the imprints of the past, the lived histories and the nuances of our communities

Each showing works with a different set of stories that she recorded and through a game of choice with the audience, a set of narratives is played out. In some ways the agency of the narrative is with the audience and sometimes we never really know who has this agency.

You are encouraged to come for at least two showings to get a sense of these shifting realities and to hear different stories.

This work was initially supported by the Unrehearsed Residency Grant 2021

Team :

Concept and performance - Diya Naidu

Technical design - Maitreyee Joshi and Joshua Quadros

Costume and set - Masoom Parmar, Dipankar Panth

Dramaturgy - Rashmi Ravikumar

Special thanks - Abhay Mahajan, Gayatri Shetty and Dhurii Academy of Arts

Cartoon Natyam is an initiative by Veena Basavarajaiah designed to create a space that addresses the issues of the art world. It started with an online forum where cartoons and illustrations are used to ellicit discussions that are socially and politically impacting the artists and their practice. Taking this idea of dialogue between art, practice and audience further, Cartoon Natyam will be curating a series of live performances in collaboration with Courtyard Koota. The series will bring to the audience works of various artists who have been engaging with personal and political questions through their art.