Intended For You Alone

banner, 50m 2017

‘Everyone strives for the Law’, says the woman, ‘how is it then that over all these years no one but me has asked to be let in?’ The doorkeeper sees the woman is nearing the end of her life and, to reach her failing ears, he shouts to her:’No one else could gain admission here, since this door was intended for you alone. Now I am going to close it.’

Originally produced for the exhibition Trauma, Memory and the story of Canada, Intended for you Alone is based on research into the Komagata Maru incident in 1914, especially the experiences of women who were prevented from joining their families, and whose lives were shifted dramatically in the new land. The artwork consists of a 50m banner wrapped around a construction site in Vancouver’s rapidly changing Punjabi market. The text is appropriated from Kafka’s well-known parable Before the Law; a Q&A excerpt reflects the dynamics of global migration across jurisdictions.

Review by Zool Suleman on Rungh.

Intended for you Alone was commissioned by the South Asian Canadian Histories Association (SACHA) and curated by Raghavendra Rao K.V.