New work at the AGB will slowly decay over the course of the exhibition - mirroring cycle of life, death, and return to the earth.

By Staff

August 12th, 2022

BURLINGTON, ON

Noni Kaur has used a a superstitious Indian phrase to name and define the exhibot that opens at the AGB on August 16th,  The work was curated by Jasmine Mander

Nazar na lage loosely translates to “knock on wood”, a superstitious Indian phrase meant to ward off negative energy. Artist Noni Kaur’s vibrant rangoli work welcomes visitors back into the gallery after years of pandemic upheaval. A cultural practice in India and Singapore, the art of rangoli uses coloured materials to decorate floors in domestic and public spaces. Traditionally made from powder pigments, flowers, rice, or sand, this practice attracts positive energy for celebrating auspicious occasions.

The shape of Kaur’s rangoli begins with an O, a historic symbol of feminine energy. As the work morphs and curves, it begins to take on an abstract human form.

Kaur’s work highlights the effect of cultural conditioning on labour-intensive rituals of preparations. The process takes months to complete – beginning by hand-dying mounds of desiccated coconut and then forming the design in situ. The shape of Kaur’s rangoli begins with an O, a historic symbol of feminine energy. As the work morphs and curves, it begins to take on an abstract human form.

As time passes, the desiccated coconut and non-toxic materials allow the artwork to become a repository of energy for the microbial systems living in the installation.

The mylar window works depicts the microbial formations occurring deep in the rangoli. Images of the cellar forms are projected on the sculptural floor installation as the sun’s light changes throughout the day.

As the work slowly decays over the course of the exhibition, it mirrors the cycle of life, death, and return to the earth.

Noni Kaur

Noni Kaur is an award-winning multidisciplinary artist and educator. Kaur’s works are an embodiment of her response to intersectional identity across cultures and communities as a Singaporean woman of Punjabi descent in Canada. Her immersive, reactive, multi-sensory installations bridge gaps between gender, culture, the body, and the non-human world, through her expansive, topographical landscapes of desiccated coconut installations. The works are live conversations about lived experiences, assimilations, materiality, rituals, and bridging gaps of the human and post-human environments.

Kaur’s work has been featured in international venues including: the Havana Biennale, Cuba; the Asian Art Biennale, Dhaka, Bangladesh; the Fukuoka Triennale, Asian Art Museum, Japan; White Columns, New York; the Henie Onstad Kunstenter, Oslo, Norway amongst others. Kaur lives and works in Toronto, Ontario.

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