CATALOG TEXT
“…Neha Choksi turns her attention to the sun, both as planetary sustenance and a point of reference for dialogue across generations and within the self through multiple modes of narration. The artist’s obsession with the sun is related to her long-standing interests in absence, loss, memory and nature. Choksi invites ten Bangladeshi children to embody a fictive dream of a child obsessively drawing suns, considering the multiplicity of the sun as a powerful magic orb and a cursed ball of fire, both energising and overheating life on earth. They consider the sun’s power from their point of view as children, but also from the vantage point of other human and non-human entities. They imagine how the sun might consider us within its dominion of power as it shines down on our planet. Each day of DAS, Choksi invites a different adult professional to interact with the now-embodied dream child through the lens of their skillsets as an archaeologist or a meteorologist, among others. The psychological process of animating nature draws us back to our primal yearning to reconnect with the cosmos across species and generations as we morph from atoms into beings and back.”
— Diana Campbell, Artistic Director, Chief Curator, Dhaka Art Summit
PARTICIPANTS
Shama Ahmed with her mother Samiya Ahmed Selim, climate scientist
Zuneira Hussain with Palki Ahmad, musician
Rida Ayat Aman with Nirmalya Kumar, art collector
Siyara Ayat Aman with Ashna Chowdhury, leadership and wellbeing specialist
Inaya Areesha Huq & Amaya Tanisha Huq with Mehruz Chowdhury Munir, fashion designer
Shahaar Selim with his father Ashique Selim, psychiatrist
Amado Karim with Abbas Hussein, airline pilot
Afreen Amarah Zaman with Agnese Barolo-Rizvi, life consultant
Zayan Bari with Swadhin Sen, archaeologist
Atreyee Ahsan with Ishrat Nishat, dramaturg
