Art Asia and John Hansard Gallery were proud to present Mela Monument at the 2024 Southampton Mela Festival, an outdoor art project celebrating South Asian culture and the vibrant communities of Southampton.
A Community-Driven Project
Over 160 people shared their thoughts on belonging, home, and the meaning of Mela at various workshops hosted by John Hansard Gallery, Southampton. From March to May 2024, artists worked alongside local schools, community groups, and families in a series of creative workshops. These contributions shaped every stage of the project.
The Artworks
Permindar Kaur
Kaur’s installation of beds and washing lines explored ideas of home and gathering. Festival visitors took part by printing patterns onto clothing using traditional Indian wooden blocks, creating a collaborative artwork in real time.
Ren Wooldridge
Wooldridge created an open wooden door set on a base of colourful ceramic tiles, many hand-painted by community members. The piece reflects the city’s diverse stories of migration, identity, and belonging.
Rabia Raja
Raja’s wooden structure, wrapped in a fabric tapestry of community-made block prints, framed two ‘incomplete’ chairs in conversation. Visitors added new printed fabrics on the day, transforming the installation into a vibrant celebration of cultural expression.
Celebrating Together
The Mela Monument artworks were unveiled at the Mela Sculpture Park at Southampton Mela Festival in Hoglands Park on 13 July 2024, bringing artists and communities together in a shared creative space. Art Asia’s Chief Executive, Dahlia Jamil, commented “the project celebrates Southampton’s diverse communities and the stories that connect them”.
John Hansard Gallery said: “We were delighted to present artist Permindar Kaur at 2024’s Mela Festival. The project was an inspiring collaboration with Art Asia, uniting a contemporary visual art space in Southampton with the Mela, as part of John Hansard Gallery’s public art project, Co-Creating Public Space. Our presence at the Mela aimed to enhance recognition of the importance of the city’s South Asian community through the culture of visual art.”
A Lasting Legacy
The project formed part of Co-Creating Public Space, a national initiative led by John Hansard Gallery and supported by Arts Council England, Southampton City Council, GO! Southampton and the University of Southampton. The programme empowers communities to shape and animate public spaces through creativity.
Related Workshops & Events
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