Passport Cancelled

Artist Statement

In 2011, I gave up my Indian nationality to become an American citizen. Doing so meant having my Indian passport invalidated at the Indian consulate with a stamp stating “Passport cancelled as the holder has acquired Foreign Nationality”. Having lived in the United States for over 17 years it seemed odd to claim my American nationality as “foreign”. Taking as a departure point the bureaucratic language stamped in my Indian passport to invalidate it, this exhibition will present a migrant narrative- highlighting the fragmentation of family, identity, and culture common to the migrant experience and standing in contrast to the simplified rhetoric surrounding these topics, by combining labor intensive practice with playful experimentation- installations of objects and text in a variety of materials and media.