Stargazing

various urban landscapes. Her veil continuously morphs
with the weather, developing rotor wings like a helicopter
until she finally levitates into deep space. Her hijab
then functions as a UFO with a beacon shining into the
void. The artist states that she “presents a repeating idea
of transformation. Using materials such as markers and
coloured pencils that dominate pubescent middle school
art, each frame is individually drawn, resulting in the lines
continuously changing and transforming. The idea of transformation
is further echoed through the character’s veil
since the practice of veiling coincides with puberty and
the changing female body…. as the ephemeral headdress
mirrors changes in the weather while both protecting and
possessing the wearer.” Abidi says that she is interested
in conceptual strategies to challenge our perceptions of
cultural codes and symbols. She is very successful in
presenting a delightful and surprising vision of the veil,
a trope previously explored by numerous women artists.
Born in Mumbai, India, Jaishri Abichandani founded
the South Asian Women’s Creative Collective in 1997
and received her MFA from Goldsmiths College in
2005. She has exhibited internationally at P.S.1/MOMA,
the Queens Museum, and the Guangzhou Triennial.
Abichandani has served as the Founding Director of
Public Events at the Queens Museum of Art in New York,
curating several exhibitions including Fatal Love: South
Asian American Art Now. Other curatorial projects
have included Sultana’s Dream at Exit Art, Exploding
the Lotus and Artists in Exile amongst others. Her work
is included in the Burger Collection, the Florian Peters
Messers Collection and the Saatchi Collection.
Stargazing largely interrogates the location of the body
in various narratives of performance, television and
popular culture. Although most of the included works
are representational and figurative, Dube’s installations
provide a needed abstract counterpoint. They simultaneously
serve as a map to understand the multiple layers of references
that all artists bring to the discussion. Through the
fruit of their labour and imagination, by conflating gender
and racial tropes, and by inserting coded bodies into the
landscape of science fiction, these artists present a powerful
vision of vulnerable bodies and realised selves.
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