Dipesh Pandya
Trigger Warning! Trigger Warning!
2020
Dipesh Pandya presents an incantation as part of a ceremonial ritual written in the voice of his alter ego, Swan Nemesis. The work delves into the symbolism of the tiger, a figure emblematic of pride in culture, identity and traditions, while cross-examining changes in the very nature of humans into animals and vice versa. Using the art of lyricism as weaponry, these words act as a warning for the present, acknowledging the horrors of the past while forewarning a possible future.
Dipesh Pandya (b. 1972, Tanzania) is a Margate-based activist artist who migrated from Tanzania to England with his grandmother at the age of three and has since lived and worked in France, America and India. Influences from these countries have shaped his cultural identity and are important contributing factors to the critical questions the artist poses in relation to his journey back to England in 2016. Both in India and England, Dipesh was confronted with questions, doubts and fears around attitudes and representations of race and culture in an increasingly antagonistic and monocultural global society. He is a 2018 Open School East alumnus and was artist in residence with Cement Fields in 2019. Dipesh has participated in projects at Sunaparanta Goa Center for The Arts, Panjim; New Art Exchange, Nottingham; Guest Projects, Croydon Arts Store and Turf Projects, London; the Whitstable Biennial; and with various galleries and organisations in Margate, including Margate Now festival, LIMBO, Crate and OSE.
All images courtesy of the artist