March 2024

ARTIST TALK: AVTARJEET DHANJAL (INDIA)

28 Mar 16

YARAT Contemporary Art Space kindly invites you to attend a public talk by an artist, writer and philosopher Avtarejeet Dhanjal who will share his idea of how an artist of non-western tradition can make his/her place in the Western Art world on his/her own terms.

Due to historical and geo-political reasons, the West has been a dominant voice in recent history of the world, whether we speak about politics or creative arts, which has given many non-western artists a dream to succeed in the Western art scene.


Avtarjeet Dhanjal was born in the mountain village of Punjab, a North-Western India. Punjab, being a border state geographically, faced all the land invaders from North-West frontier throughout history till British arrived by sea in 18th century. Punjab also assimilated the culture of all new comers including Islam and Sufism and Persian poetry, a thread that links me to Azerbaijan.

Though he was a born in the mountain village, with no access to the electricity, radio or books except one new paper in Urdu which was shared in the village, Avtarjeet was dreaming to explore the world beyond those mountains. In 1970, he left India in a passenger boat with $4 dollars in hispocket to try his luck beyond the waters that was only affordable means for him to leave his country. In 1997 Institute of International Visual Arts (inIVA) celebrated his 25 years of creative work as a sculptor by organising a large exhibition of his work in London and followed by a celebratory publication abouthis work.


Life gave him more than he had dreamt of as a young boy in the village. As a renown artist, he now makes a review of his life and tries to analyse his place in the world. Avtarjeet Dhanjal will share his thoughts with the audience at YARAT Centre.


Date: March 28, 2015

Time: 19.00

Venue: YARAT Contemporary Art Centre, Multifunctional Room

Contact phone: +99412 505 1414

Admission: FREE


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