Swapnaa Tamhane

Swapnaa Tamhane (born, 1976) is a Montreal-based artist, curator and writer. Her practice involves drawing, paper making and the material histories of textiles. Tamhane's artwork challenges colonial constructs and hierarchies between art, craft and design. Her work has been exhibited internationally at Sculpture Park Jaipur, Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, and the V&A Dundee, Scotland.

Education

Tamhane holds a BA in Art History from Carleton University, Ottawa. She earned an MA in Contemporary Art from The University of Manchester, and an MFA in Fibres & Material Practices from Concordia University, Montreal.

Selected Solo Exhibitions:

Mobile Place, Royal Ontario Museum, 2022

Tamhane's first solo museum exhibition, "Mobile Place", was presented at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto. The exhibition featured three immersive textile installations investigating themes of national sovereignty, the histories of colonial cotton production, architecture in India, and the intellectual and physical value of craftsmanship. The installations are created using naturally dyed cotton and are block printed with geometric patterns. Tamhane draws the motifs for the patterns and travels to the Indian city of Kutch to work with block printer and dyer Salemamad Khatri, woodblock carver Mukesh Prajapati and the all-female embroidery collective, Kasab. She works with them in a skill sharing process to transfer her designs onto fabric. Through this process, Tamhane explores the value of artisanal labor and craftsmanship in the context of India's independence from Britain and increased mechanization.  The installations, which also incorporate appliqué and beading, mirror the fabric shelters and movable canopies that have been a staple of South Asian and Islamic cultures since the 1700s. Although these structures were associated with imperialism and militarism, they are used for celebrations, weddings and gatherings. For Tamhane, "the tent is all these things, but also becomes a site of contemplation, ornamentation, and resistance, particularly within the Royal Ontario Museum, a world-culture and natural-history institution, where distinctions between high art and craftsmanship, colonized and colonizer, can be cemented all too easily." The exhibition was curated by Dr. Deepali Dewan, Dan Mishra Senior Curator, Global South Asia. 

The Golden Fibre, V&A Dundee, 2021

In 2021, Tamhane was commissioned by the V&A Dundee in Scotland to create a work about the jute industry. During the 19th century, Dundee was the world's largest producer and supplier of jute. By the early 20th century, workers in Bangladesh and India who harvested raw jute exported to Dundee for processing and manufacturing worked in mills in and around Kolkata.

Tamhane's piece, The Golden Fibre, is titled after the nickname given to jute because of the profits made from the raw fibre. The Golden Fibre is an installation featuring drawings of female jute mill workers, a collage of archival photographs and microscopic images of jute paper Tamhane made by hand. The installation also consists of mirrors with sandblasted text from a language exercise book made for Scottish mill supervisors to learn Hindustani. Tamhane highlights the role of women in jute production and the impact of colonialism on transnational labour.

Selected Group Exhibitions:

• 2023: From Where I Stand, National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, and British Council, Delhi
• 2020: Ideas Travel Faster Than Light, Mecklenburgh Square Garden Project, London
• 2019: From Glissant, Unfixed and Unbounded, Art Gallery of Ontario, Ontario
• 2016: Protectives, curated by Vicky Moufawad-Paul, A Space Gallery, Toronto

Curated Exhibitions:

• 2021: Constitutions, The Leonard & Bina Ellen Art Gallery, Montreal
• 2013: In Order to Join -- The Political in a Historical Moment, Museum Abteiberg, Mönchengladbach
• 2017: HERE: Locating Canadian Contemporary Artists, Aga Khan Museum, Toronto

Publications:

• Mobile Place, Royal Ontario Museum, Exhibition Catalogue, 2022.
• SĀR: The Essence of Indian Design, Phaidon Press, 2016
• In Order to Join – the Political in a Historical Moment, Exhibition Catalogue, 2015
• Propositions in Performance, Catalogue Essay, Khoj Publications, Delhi, 2010

References

1. Dionne-Krosnick, Arièle. Swapnaa Tamhane Drop Cloth, pg 1. Retrieved 27th May 2024.

2. Behan, Antonia. The Memory of Architecture, pp. 17. Swapnaa Tamhane: Mobile Place Catalogue. Retrieved 27th May 2024.

3. Dewan, Deepali. Making a Mark. Swapnaa Tamhane: Mobile Place Catalogue

4. Redd y, Gautami. Swapnaa Tamhane Reimagines Le Corbusiers Mill Owners’ Association Building with textiles. Architectural Digest, 2022.

5. ROM Connects: Inside Mobile Palace https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iW825Cjjqnk

6. In Swapnaa Tamhane: No Surface is Neutral, swapping textiles and handmade khadi paper resist colonial history in India. Stir, 2022.

7. Dewan, Deepali. Making a Mark, pp. 6 Swapnaa Tamhane: Mobile Place Catalogue. 

8. Dewan, Deepali. Making a Mark. pp. 7 Swapnaa Tamhane: Mobile Place Catalogue.

9. Swapnaa Tamhane: Royal Ontario Museum. Art Forum, 2022.

10. Swapnaa Tamhane: Royal Ontario Museum. Art Forum, 2022.

11. V&A Dundee turns spotlight on colonial past of city’s jute industry. The Scotsman, 2022.

12. Jute’s hidden histories explored at V&A Dundee. University of Dundee, 2022.

13. Jute: its hidden history revealed. Scottish Field Magazine, 2022.

14. Jute’s hidden histories explored at V&A Dundee. University of Dundee, 2022.

15. Swapnaa Tamhane: The Golden Fibre

16. Extra: The Golden Fibre. Monocle on Design, 2023.