Indira's Birthday (ઇન્દિરાનો જન્મદિવસ)
Ilish Thomas
12/8/21 - 4/9/21
Indira's Birthday (ઇન્દિરાનો જન્મદિવસ) examines intimate moments within the home setting. “This work speaks in the tone of a memoir - it is as much about my mother, as it is about me in that it details the intimate, behind-closed-doors experience of diasporic peoples. It touches upon assimilation, cultural margins, the working class in Aotearoa, interpersonal relations and the thresholds between private and public spaces.” Ilish Thomas often aims to expand upon imagery found within socio-cultural margins and what it means to be femme with mixed cultural heritage in this country.
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Ilish Thomas is a Te-Whanganui-a-Tara based artist whose creative work engages images of ‘in-betweenness', strategies of mediation and cultural navigation from the perspective of a mixed-South Asian person living in Aotearoa. She works across a range of media including video and moving-image production, audio recording and production as well as other archival strategies. Having completed her Bachelor’s in Fine Arts in 2019 with Honors, Ilish is currently undertaking her MFA at Massey University. “Indira's Birthday (ઇન્દિરાનો જન્મદિવસ)” is a part-two-show in extension from her last show entitled, NAMASKAR, and merry xmas… shown at MEANWHILE in July.