Shimmering Spaces: Art and Anglo Indian Experiences A dissertation submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Rhett Jude D’Costa MA (by Research), BA (Fine Art) School of Art. College of Design and Social Context. RMIT University June 2016 2 DECLARATION I certify that except where due acknowledgement has been made, the work is that of the author alone; the work has not been submitted previously, in whole or in part, to qualify for any other academic award; the content of the dissertation is the result of work which has been carried out since the official commencement date of the approved research program; any editorial work, paid or unpaid, carried out by a third party is acknowledged; and, ethics procedures and guidelines have been followed. Rhett Jude D’Costa August 2016 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Over my long PhD journey, help, support and expertise has been forthcoming from family, friends and colleagues. Too many to mention here and in fear I may miss someone—print is so unforgiving—I extend my appreciation to this wonderful group of individuals. However, specific acknowledgement is required for my terrific supervisors, who, for different reasons came and went during my candidature: Dr Sophie Errey, Dr Kirsten Sharp, and Dr Laresa Kosloff. Assoc. Prof. Keely Macarow came on board nearing the final stages and stayed until my completion. I would particularly like to thank Dr Robin Kingston who has been with me throughout the journey. As my friend, colleague and supervisor I will always be grateful for her wisdom and the trust she showed in me, but most importantly for giving me permission to find, loose, pause and accelerate as fitted the moment. It was this guidance and care, which ultimately made the experience rich and meaningful. I would also like to thank my amazing and wonderful mother, Phyllis Peters, for her love and stories. My PhD journey really commenced years ago, as I listened intently to her memories and recollections of India. Her Anglo Indian community lit up my world through her imaginative storytelling about food, dances, clothes and parties. Now 84, she continues to be my inspiration. I still listen with love and intent to her words. The thought of her reading what she has so generously shared with me was motivation to finish this journey. I would also like to acknowledge Kerry Jennings, Aerial Consultancy for the editorial support and Adrian Saunders for the design of the dissertation. My partner, Charles Young, has supported my endeavour at every stage by giving me the space and time I needed. If not for him, I would not be at this point. Finally I would like to thank and acknowledge RMIT University, School of Art, who have always been generous in their support as I juggled being a PhD candidate, artist and academic. 4 CONTENTS Declaration 2 Acknowledgements 3 Contents 4 ABSTRACT 9 AN EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AS A DIAGRAM 12 LIST OF IMAGES 14 SELECTED EARLY EXPERIMENTS 28 Archipelago (2009–2010) 29 The Colonial Garden (2010) 31 ARTWORKS 34 Brad (2010) 35 Trade (2013) 39 Eat! My Son (2013) 46 Rumour (2013) 48 Bespoke (2013) 52 A.E.I.O.U. (2013) 56 Reading from Both Sides (2013) 58 Standard English (2013) 63 Somersault (2013) 68 Curtain (2012) 75 Elsewhere (2013) 87 P.O.S.H. (2013) 91 Between Dreaming and Dying (2015) 94 Closeness & Distance (2015) 100 Letting things be what they are (2016) 106 SHIMMERING SPACES 5 CONTENTS How much does your history weigh? (We are all together complicit in one way or another, here and elsewhere, then, now and tomorrow) (2016) 110 PRELIMINARY EXHIBITIONS 116 Secret Files from the Working Men’s College (2010) 119 Something in the Air (2010) 123 Here with You (2011) 127 2013 Castlemaine State Festival, Visual Arts Biennial – Periscope 131 Shimmering Spaces Exhibition 2 (2013) 136 Shimmering Spaces Exhibition 3 (2013) 138 INTRODUCTION 143 Chapter Summaries 146 CHAPTER ONE 151 OVERVIEWS AND ORIENTATION 1.1 OrientatinG and formulatinG the research 151 Between binaries 152 Cracks and crevices 153 Curtains as permeable borders 155 Holi colour! 157 Experience as a method 158 Somersaults 159 Accents and pronunciations: ‘You speak funny … background to the artwork A.E.I.O.U. (2013) 162 Arriving in Australia: assimilation, multiculturalism and citizenship 164 A.E.I.O.U. (2013) 165 Standard English (2013): nationalism and text 168 Simryn Gill: intersections between personal and world histories 170 Bharti Kher: misrepresentation and cultural authenticity 174 Being and shimmering 174 1.2 The PHD: the sum of its parts 176 Preliminary exhibitions as a methodological device 176 Between social sciences and art criticism 177 Linking the artworks in an exhibition context: Homi Bhabha and Anish Kapoor, and breaching boundaries in the final exhibition 178 Reading the PhD 178 1.3 MethodoloGies, processes and strateGies: heuristic and autoethnoGraphic methods 180 Lived experiences and narrative enquiries as research and art practice: Bochner, Guntarik, Al Hadid, Rendle-Short, Spivak, Rushdie, Dean 181 Anglo Indian as postcolonial: Caplan 183 The research questions 184 SHIMMERING SPACES 6 CONTENTS CHAPTER TWO 185 MULTIPLE BEGINNINGS—THREE REFLECTIVE ACCOUNTS AS BEGINNINGS, EXPERIENCES AND MEMORIES 2.1 LookinG BackWard – ThinkinG FORWard 185 2.2 Reflective Account 1: StartinG from X 186 Salman Rushdie and Tacita Dean: forms of beginning 186 Looking for the X in a city of fractured names and dreams 187 Whiteness and Anglo Indians in India and Australia 188 Bombay’s fractured geography 190 In-between tetrapods and time 191 (Re)looking and remembering Marine Parade 192 2.3 Reflective Account 2: to be someWhere else, lookinG at the sea, closeness & distance 192 Roni Horn Saying Water (2001) 193 Closeness & distance: returning to remember and see the sea 194 Walking in my neighbourhood: distinctions and divisions 194 Reading from Both Sides (2013) 195 Smelling your way into the world from a verandah 196 Kimsooja: visibility and invisibility 197 Thirdspace: inclusive space through the experience of living 199 The danger of a single story 199 Impossible geographies 200 Rückenfigur 200 Loathing and desire: Elsewhere (2013) 201 Kimsooja looking at the Yamuna River 204 P.O.S.H. (2013) 204 Returning to water 206 2.4 Reflective Account 3: the story of Brad (2010) 207 2.5 ConcludinG remarks 210 CHAPTER THREE 211 SHIFTING GROUNDS—DEFINITIONS, HISTORIES AND CONTESTATIONS 3.1 CominG into BeinG: definitions and A merry-GO-round of rejection and acceptance 212 3.2 History: loss and Gain for the ANGlo Indian community 213 Part A – The Company (1600–1874) 213 Mounds of spice and colour: Trade (2013) and Eat! My Son (2013) 217 Anish Kapoor and India: the anxiety of attribution 217 Mountains and love: back to Trade (2013) and Eat! My Son (2013) 221 SHIMMERING SPACES 7 CONTENTS Part B – The British Empire: adventures leadinG to poWer (1858–1947) 223 Ideas and master plans 223 Morals, manners, honour and space as forms of power 224 Shifting moral grounds and spatialised segregation 225 Club rules 226 Useful citizens and a middle ground 226 Dalrymple’s White Mughals 227 Mutiny and chapatis 229 Rumour (2013) 230 Part C – EmiGration: leavinG India (1940s–1970s) 230 Bespoke (2013) 232 CHAPTER FOUR 242 BEING: THE MULTIPLICITY AND INTERRELATIONSHIP OF BELONGING 4.1 Correspondence: backGround to the Letters and Asides for the Bespoke project 242 Near invisibility–Christov-Bakargiev’s four conditions for dOCUMENTA 13: the act of re-performing, under siege, in a state of hope - dreaming, on retreat – sleeping. 243 4.2 Walid Raad: archives, storytellinG and history as factual and fictitious 244 4.3 LinkinG narrative, artWorks and text 248 4.4 Text as script as potential artWorks 248 4.5 Hetain Patel leapinG in space as Spiderman 249 4.6 CorrespoNDENce (2012–2015) 251 The first Letter to Mr Thyssen Krupp 251 The second Letter to Mr Thyssen Krupp 252 The first Aside: the Anglo Indian, reflecting and awaiting a response in Fryerstown, Australia 252 The second Aside at the offices of Mr Thyssen Krupp & Associates, London, England 253 CHAPTER FIVE 257 HOME AND NOSTALGIA – PLACE AND BELONGING, LEAVING AND RETURNING, REMEMBERING AND FORGETTING … 5.1 BetWeen rememberinG and FORGettinG 257 5.2 ANGlo Indian WritinG as A FORM OF rememberinG 259 Homesick 256 5.3 Home: GeoGraphy and emiGration 262 SHIMMERING SPACES 8 CONTENTS 5.4 Ideas OF home and belonGinG 263 Shared Meanings 263 Invisible cities and imaginary homelands 264 Between Dreaming and Dying (2015) 265 Citizen (1996) 266 5.5 Failed Utopia: MCCluskieGanj 267 5.6 ANGlo Indian exodus 270 5.7 Beyond stereotypes and deroGatory comments: representation and recoGnition 272 5.8 CrackinG skin 273 5.9 Diaspora 273 5.10 CloseNess & DistaNce (2015): nostalGia and India as home 275 CONCLUSION 280 CIRCULATORY ACTS WHERE THE END IS THE BEGINNING Act 1 – LooseninG the hyphen: A journey of meaninG Which is both personal and critical 280 Act 2 – A form of rationale 281 Act 3 – LookinG back While movinG forWard 284 Act 4 – The final exhibition: where here is elsewhere (2016) 286 Letting things be what they are (2016) 286 Personnes (2010) 287 “Untitled” (Portrait of Ross in L.A. ) (1991) 288 How much does does your history weigh? (We are all together complicit in one way or another, here and elsewhere, then, now and tomorrow) (2016) 288 Final Exhibition 2016 – A Discussion 289 List of Works 293 Act 5 – ConnectinG stories and serendipitous experiences: ordinary moments in extraordinary histories 299 Bibliography 301 9 ABSTRACT The primary research for my PhD is a series of artworks, which seek to contribute to current discourse relating to culturally composite ethnicities, specifically, the Anglo Indian community, in the context of place, belonging and identity.