in-between places British Premiere
Ensconced inside these corrugated cartons is a solitary image of a space in India (Baroda) that is no longer accessible but was and still is, intimate to me. One can simply think of these cartons as being empty boxes, or, that they contain both a physical and a psychological space. Over the last four years I have documented the rapidly changing area in Baroda where I grew up. Once intimate, most of the spaces including my own childhood home are now either completely rebuilt, renovated or crumbling. Many of the original families who lived here have gone.
Many sons inherited these homes and most of them are part of the Indian Diaspora now living in foreign lands. Unable to care for them, some of the homes are sold, often to individuals who themselves live abroad but have roots in this part of the world and feel strongly that they must keep a footing at "home". And so, this notion of claiming a home "back home" but without the intention of living in it and making it into one is the story of these homes that were and will continue to be left behind.
On March 21, 2004, for the National Review of Live Arts in Glasgow, I would like to install "inbetween places, deserted and embraced" as a dwelling under the railway arch. In almost all urban centres around the world, cardboard structures - around rail networks, underground suburban stations, in doorways and passages, are adapted to create personalised living spaces by many who find themselves uprooted for a variety of reasons.