Draft:Suchitra Mattai

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  • Comment: Is her work included in the permanent collections of any major (national) art museums or galleries? Is that the list in "notable collections"? This list needs a citation for each entry. MurielMary (talk) 17:23, 8 April 2024 (UTC)


Suchitra Mattai (born 1973) is a multidisciplinary Guyanese American artist of South Asian descent.[1][2] Her practice includes mixed media paintings, fiber works, sculptures, and large scale installations[3] which draw upon myth, memory,[4] and ancestral histories,[5] in reflection on the legacy of colonialism in the Indo-Caribbean.[6][7] She currently lives and works in Los Angeles, CA.[8]

Early life and education[edit]

Mattai was born in Guyana, a Caribbean country in South America, as part of the South Asian diaspora.[1] Her great-grandparents were indentured laborers, brought from northern India to Guyana to work the sugar plantations under the British colonialists.[2] As a child, Mattai learned sewing, embroidering, and other craft-based techniques from her grandmothers.[9] Mattai attended Rutgers University as an undergraduate, received fellowships to study at the Royal College of Art, London, and at the American Institute of Indian Studies, Udaipur, India, and holds an MFA in painting and drawing and an MA in South Asian Art, both from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.[10]

Works[edit]

Mattai's major works include:

  • Suchitra Mattai: Labor and Love at the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington DC (2024). This solo exhibition pairs Mattai’s recent work, including mixed-media installation and sculpture, with historical objects sourced from nearby collections in Washington, D.C. For the first time, this exhibition provides the opportunity for a visual call and response between historical objects and Mattai’s contemporary work. The exhibit explores and complicates understandings of binaries such as East and West, art and craft, and history and memory. The way certain histories are remembered, or not, is central to much of her art.[11][12]
  • Institute of Contemporary Art San Francisco (2024). Mattai’s solo exhibition considers the concept of “home” from an immigrant perspective. Multiple mixed-media installations will conjure an imagined domestic space inspired by Mattai’s mother’s familial home. Her interactive sculptures invite viewers to feel the power of family, care, and community in the face of migration and upheaval.[13]
  • We are nomads, we are dreamers, Socrates Sculpture Park, Queens, NY (2024). A solo exhibition of newly commissioned works by Suchitra Mattai, celebrating the migratory oceanic journeys of past, present, and future diasporic communities. Inspired by the Park’s position along the East River, which flows into the vast expanse of the Atlantic Ocean, Mattai’s installation features a series of monumental sculptures that combines mirrored stainless steel, vintage saris, and fabric. Activated by monthly dance performances, this exhibition pays homage to the artist’s Indo-Caribbean ancestors and the stories of many Queens residents.[14]
  • Suchitra Mattai: Bodies and Souls at the Tampa Museum of Art, Tampa FL (2024) is a solo exhibition that explores migration, matriarchy, and materiality. Mattai uses found objects, such as vintage saris, to create colorful monumental installations. She wraps, braids, stitches, and weaves fabrics together as allegories for historical and personal narratives. For her first museum exhibition in Florida and the Southeast, Mattai will premier new installations in conversation with recent works, highlighting the artist’s ongoing investigations of the past and present.[15]
  • Breathing Room, Boise Art Museum, solo exhibition, Boise, ID (2021).[10]
  • Sugar Bound, Center for the Visual Arts, solo exhibition Denver, CO (2018).[16]

Mattai's work has been included in the Sharjah Biennial (2019)[17] and group shows at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago,IL,[18][19] the Crystal Bridges Museum, Bentonville, AK,[20] the Institute of Contemporary Art Boston, MA,[21][22] the Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, CA,[23] Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan, WI,[24] and the Jorge M. Perez Collection at the El Espacio Twenty Three[25], Miami, FL, and elsewhere.

Recognition[edit]

Recent recognitions of Mattai's work include an Anonymous Was a Woman Award (2023)[26] and a Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship (2023).[27]

Notable collections[edit]

Mattai's work is part of the permanent collections of several notable museums, including:

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b "Suchitra Mattai, the light we know and the dark we keep". Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University. 2023-06-08. Retrieved 2023-09-03.
  2. ^ a b Westall, Mark (2023-11-14). "Roberts Projects now represent Suchitra Mattai". FAD Magazine. Retrieved 2024-04-17.
  3. ^ "Suchitra Mattai's Perfect Future". artreview.com. Retrieved 2024-03-19.
  4. ^ Magnatta, Sarah (March 19, 2023). ""Resonant Presence: Materiality and Memory in the Work of Suchitra Mattai"". Art Journal. 82: 16–33. doi:10.1080/00043249.2023.2180276.
  5. ^ Aneiza Ali, Grace (2023). Are we free to move about the world: The passport in contemporary art. Tallahasse, FL: Florida State University Museum of Fine Arts.
  6. ^ Wendt, Selene (October 5, 2021). "The Past is Present," in Beyond the Door of No Return: Confronting Hidden Colonial Histories through Contemporary Art. Sikra. ISBN 978-8857245607.
  7. ^ White, Katie (2023-08-08). "In Her Los Angeles Studio, Suchitra Mattai Weaves Vibrant Tapestries Out of Saris and Dreams Up Epically Scaled Installations". Artnet News. Retrieved 2023-09-03.
  8. ^ "Bio/Statement". Suchitra Mattai. Retrieved 2023-09-03.
  9. ^ "Suchitra Mattai, the light we know and the dark we keep". Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University. 2023-06-08. Retrieved 2024-04-17.
  10. ^ a b "Suchitra Mattai: Breathing Room – Boise Art Museum". Retrieved 2024-03-19.
  11. ^ "Suchitra Mattai: Labor and Love | Exhibition". NMWA. Retrieved 2024-03-19.
  12. ^ Capps, Kriston (Oct 15, 2023). "Is a Women's Museum Still Relevant?". The New York Times.
  13. ^ "Suchitra Mattai". ICA SF. Retrieved 2024-03-19.
  14. ^ "We are nomads, we are dreamers - Socrates Sculpture Park". Socrates Sculpture Park. Retrieved 2024-03-19.
  15. ^ "Upcoming Exhibitions". Tampa Museum of Art. Retrieved 2024-03-19.
  16. ^ Bova, Patrick (2018-08-31). "Suchitra Mattai: sugar bound". Guyana Modern. Retrieved 2024-03-19.
  17. ^ "people - Sharjah Art Foundation". sharjahart.org. Retrieved 2024-03-19.
  18. ^ "MCA Chicago - Forecast Form: Art in the Caribbean Diaspora, 1990s–Today". MCA Chicago. Retrieved 2024-03-19.
  19. ^ "A Complex Survey of the Caribbean Diaspora in Chicago Goes Beyond Geographical Boundaries". ARTnews.com. 2023-04-12. Retrieved 2024-03-19.
  20. ^ "State of the Art 2020 Update: Crystal Bridges Acquires Artworks and a New VR Experience | Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art". crystalbridges.org. 2020-07-15. Retrieved 2024-03-19.
  21. ^ "Object Lesson: Christopher Cozier on Suchitra Mattai". ICA Boston. Retrieved 2024-03-19.
  22. ^ Messman, Lauren (Oct 18, 2023). "At Museums and Galleries, a Spirit of Togetherness". The New York Times.
  23. ^ "Major group exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego explores the Caribbean diaspora through recent art | MCASD". Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego. Retrieved 2024-04-09.
  24. ^ "Mattai, Suchitra – John Michael Kohler Arts Center". Retrieved 2024-04-09.
  25. ^ "El Espacio 23 | To Weave the Sky: Textile Abstractions from the Jorge M. Pérez Collection". Retrieved 2024-04-09.
  26. ^ "2023". Anonymous Was A Woman. Retrieved 2024-03-19.
  27. ^ Institution, Smithsonian. "Smithsonian Announces Its 2023 Artist Research Fellows". Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved 2024-03-19.
  28. ^ "State of the Art 2020 Update: Crystal Bridges Acquires Artworks and a New VR Experience | Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art". crystalbridges.org. 2020-07-15. Retrieved 2024-04-09.
  29. ^ "Suchitra Mattai, the light we know and the dark we keep". Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University. 2023-06-08. Retrieved 2024-04-09.
  30. ^ Art, Tampa Museum of (2022-06-30). "All in Favor: New Works in the Permanent Collection". Tampa Museum of Art. Retrieved 2024-04-09.
  31. ^ "Portland Museum of Art Collections - A Mighty Queen". collections.portlandmuseum.org. Retrieved 2024-04-09.
  32. ^ "Artist Suchitra Mattai's latest exhibit takes a hard look at a difficult year, and envisions a path forward". The Denver Post. 2020-07-28. Retrieved 2024-04-17.
  33. ^ "Joslyn Art Museum Omaha Nebraska | Art Museum, Art Classes Omaha Nebraska | Entertainment Omaha". www.joslyn.org. Retrieved 2024-04-09.
  34. ^ "Title: UNTITLED | Kiran Nadar Museum of Art". www.google.com. Retrieved 2024-04-09.
  35. ^ "bodies and souls (fabric element) – University of Michigan Museum of Art". umma.umich.edu. Retrieved 2024-04-09.

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