Storytelling Redux: South Asian Art

In 1843, the Padmashali community in Telangana, India commissioned two cloth scroll paintings. Originally part of a larger artwork than spanned 25 feet in length, the scroll paintings entered SAM’s permanent collection in 1976 as two fragments. The scrolls inhabited a performative space, serving either as a fixed backdrop, or unrolled in segments in correspondence for particular live performances. As we analyze this interplay between performance and pictorial narrative, we’ll explore how South Asian contemporary artists, Naiza Khan and Vasantha Yogananthan, embody narrative through their staged video and photographic performances similar to the visual operation of the scrolls.

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