BNZ Auckland Diwali Festival
Bledisloe Lane, Auckland Council, in collaboration with Tiffany Singh, 2024

Diwali offers reflection, an intimate space between the dark and the light. Light becomes the touchstone to consciousness, connected to the new moon that speaks to the vast potential of a new cycle - an evolution. Once we acknowledge the darkness, we can welcome the light. This suite of works between two artists builds upon the established relationships between print, photography, performance and installation. What distinguishes print and photography from one another is that photography records a moment in the history of light, while print recalls this moment, thickening the passage of time in the amber-like qualities of ink. Print becomes a recollection, as the image moves from film, to ink, to digital activation by light, a transformation of memory occurs. In the layers of installation and performance art emerges a bridge between the real and the imagined. Here, in the southern hemisphere, time is demarcated by the lengthening of days and receding nights as the seasons change. In India, we experience Diwali with the nights closing in, and a drop-in temperature as the northern hemisphere transitions into winter. With no two instances of light being the same, Diwali reminds us of the freshness of each breath, each moment, each experience and each opportunity to embrace change.
 
Dedicated to Laxmi Morar Patel
28/10/1939 - 10/05/24