Suchitra Mattai Guyana, b. 1973

An Origin Story is the latest in Suchitra Mattai’s stunning series of wall hangings assembled from a mixture of found tassels, fabrics, and vintage saris, which relate to Mattai’s heritage as an Indo-Caribbean woman. Mattai uses materials in her works that possess embedded meanings. This creates a call and response between the materials and the other conceptual or aesthetic aspects of the work. Her woven sari wall hangings address the hidden or erased history of female indentured servitude from South Asia that followed the end of colonial slavery. “I say I’m a storyteller,” says Mattai, “but the story does not only come from history. When you’re thinking about what constitutes memory, it’s part truth and it’s part myth. These sari pieces become a way of connecting women of the South Asian diaspora over time, because they’re of different vintages. Being part of a diaspora community, you want to connect back to this past you no longer occupy, or have tangible evidence of.”