Suchitra Mattai: In the Adjacent Possible : John Michael Kohler Arts Center
In the Adjacent Possible is a response to sociologist Ruha Benjamin’s suggestion to “imagine and craft the worlds you cannot live without, just as you dismantle the ones you cannot live within.”
Each of the five artists’ installations provides a vantage point for viewing the many potentialities that lie just beyond what we know. They conjure worlds that are not quite here, yet are within our grasp. They place us in the adjacent possible, a space where we can dream alternative ways of being in the world.
The exhibition forms a speculative architecture that explores myriad approaches to and understandings of proposed and promised strategies of living. These artists offer prospective blueprints of other worlds, often constructed from the remnants of our current one. Engaging issues of colonialism, feminism, queerness, identity, and stereotypes, In the Adjacent Possible suggests ways we can reimagine the present and explores the infinite horizon of opportunities at the boundaries of our reach.
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Suchitra Mattai, You Complete Me, 2022. Vintage saris fabric found objects spray paint boas and neon 78 X 41 in. Photo by Wes Magyar.
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Suchitra Mattai, In The Absence Of Love, 2022. Acrylic gouache oil fiber trim bindis and 19th C bookpages 16 X 16 in. Photo by Wes Magyar.
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Suchitra Mattai, Passive Resistance, 2022. Acrylic embroidery floss beads trim vintage sari and vintage fabric 44 X 52 in. Photo by Wes Magyar.
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Suchita Mattai, Double Helix, 2022. Acrylic on wood and found relief sculpture 26 X 39 in. Photo by Wes Magyar.
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Suchitra Mattai, Canadian, 2022. Vintage toboggan acrylic table runner from my wedding zipper and fiber 72 X 27 in. Photo by Wes Magyar.