Mela is expanding the definition of what Asian art can be

While I’m of South Asian heritage and my work has included, at times, elements, designs and themes from that heritage, I also make work about other issues that are important to me.

I want my work to be read on a broader context – I was trained in the western contemporary visual art tradition, and I consider myself a sculptor.

I cannot deny that my continuing interest in home as a theme is informed by myself being a second-generation migrant; I was born in the UK. It’s this fusion and confusion that interests me, and probably contributes to a deep sense of unease, or even ambivalence to being labelled.

To be contrary, I must accept that opportunities will come my way because of my heritage – but I maintain my right to object to this stereotyping at the same time. It’s a challenging coexistence to manage, but artists of Asian heritage are not alone in that.

Are South Asian artists under-represented in the British visual arts scene? A number of visual artists of south Asian heritage have and are gaining profile, including myself, Chila Kumari Burman, Rana Begum, Alia Syed, Jasleen Kaur, to name a few.

But I think these remain individual successes rather than a wider interest in Asian contemporary visual art. So nothing like the hard-won curated success of the African and Caribbean heritage diaspora artists and curators, for example.

There are organisations dedicated to South Asian visual arts, many focusing on art forms from the sub-continent, either contemporary or traditional.

It’s much harder as a sculptor trained in the west to establish a profile, separate from that heritage, even if acknowledging its influence. It’s an old story regularly told, of artists moulded through commissions and opportunities, or trying to avoid being moulded into only representing an ancestry from which they are physically, geographically and philosophically divorced.

Even then it’s more complex, in many ways the generation after me are more positive about their heritage, more interested in examining and reclaiming it – while I was perhaps mostly focused on integrating.

Mela (meaning “to meet”) festivals have been part of the UK’s cultural landscape for more than 30 years.

By commissioning artists and visual artists who work in the contemporary art field, the Mela is opening and expanding the definition of what Asian art can be, contributing to an approach that stresses that art is fluid and open to change, breaking down any stereotyping.

Presenting contemporary visual art in the Mela also introduces young Asians to it, while showing that Asian contemporary practitioners are expanding what is seen as Asian art.

With this in mind, I’m pleased to have had the opportunity to show my work in an ongoing solo exhibition at John Hansard Gallery, and to complement that with a new work made for the Southampton Mela, developed by Art Asia, earlier this month.

The new artwork – which was presented in a collaborative installation with pieces from two local artists, Ren Woolridge and Rabia Raja – was additionally energised by the public visiting the Mela, who added their own marks to it.

Linking a major contemporary visual art gallery here in Southampton with the Mela – via the gallery’s Co-Creating Public Space programme – helps to increase recognition of the importance of the city’s South Asian community.

Permindar Kaur is a sculptor

John Hansard Gallery and Art Asia presented Mela Monument at the Southampton Mela Festival on 13 July, as part of the programme Co-Creating Public Space.