WHAT IF? (solo)
Surrey Art Gallery | Surrey, British Columbia | Sept. 18 - Dec. 11, 2021

Through textiles, paintings, drawings, and animation, Sandeep Johal layers her personal history with those of South Asian women she wished she knew about as a first-generation South Asian youth. These women are role models, pioneers, trailblazers, vigilantes, and rebels.

Upon entering the Gallery, the visitor steps into Johal’s bright pink retrospective teenage bedroom that she reclaims as a feminist space. The room pulses with the question What if? What if her formative influences had been daring, defiant South Asian women? Why were such figures unseen and unheard of in both private and public spheres? Johal revisits, reimagines, and reclaims her past by sharing these women’s stories through art.

Text by Suvi Bains | READ FULL ARTIST STATEMENT
Photo credit: Dennis Ha