PUBLIC PROJECTS
ONE DAY, 2022 | Installation, The Lantern City | Vancouver Art Gallery North Plaza, Vancouver BC
FOR JYOTI, 2020 | Digital animation, Luminocity | Kamloops Art Gallery, Kamloops, BC
The world has drastically changed since the Kamloops Art Gallery presented Luminocity in 2018. This year’s program responds to this unprecedented moment in history, where the world is collectively experiencing a pandemic with its effects of death, loss, and isolation, the upheaval of economic and political systems, and mass uprisings against police brutality and white supremacy, amidst the ongoing climate crisis. Humanity as we know it is in question.
Projects this year touch on themes of power and resistance, strength and fragility, public and private, connection and isolation. Presented through the shared curatorial perspective of Kamloops Art Gallery Curator Charo Neville and Guest Curator Zoe Chan, the participating artists impart diverse experiences through projects that provide insight into histories and futures.
This selection of videos, nightly tours and accompanying online programs offer a portal to urban transformation and insightful encounters.
FOR JYOTI, 2019 | Digital animation, Facade Festival produced by Burrard Arts Foundation | Vancouver Art Gallery North Plaza, Vancouver BC
Facade Festival is a biennial public art project and cultural event which takes place in September from sunset to midnight. A selection of ten BC contemporary artists, both established and early-career, are commissioned to create site-specific works of art using technology known as ‘projection mapping’. The works are tailored specifically for the Vancouver Art Gallery’s iconic architecture, and projected over its Georgia Street facade.
Sandeep Johal’s festival project, “For Jyoti”, (2019) tells the story of Jyoti Singh, a young woman whose attack and subsequent death in 2012 became a lightning rod that united India in heated protests and debate around womens’ rights and gender equality. Singh was dubbed Nirbhaya (Fearless) by the media and became the subject of the 2015 film “India’s Daughter.” Johal renders this sensitive subject matter suitable for a large public audience through her vibrant illustrations. Making expert use of colour and symbolism, Johal uses protest signs and marigolds, for example, to denote both celebration and mourning. The work communicates an empowering, uplifting message that honours not only Jyoti Singh but survivors of gendered violence everywhere.
Text by Genevieve Michaels
Photo credit: Dennis Ha
STARWEAVER, 2018 | Indian Summer Festival, Vancouver BC
The Morning Star is a recurring image in the stories and in the life of noted Musqueam weaver and knowledge keeper Debra Sparrow. For rising visual artist Sandeep Johal, goddesses and feminine power are compelling inspirations for her art. These two outstanding artists have created a specially commissioned collaborative artwork for Indian Summer Festival. The result is the stunning ‘Starweaver’ a goddess who weaves yarn and cultures together to create a tapestry of the starry, sheltering sky covering the entire ceiling of the PAUSE Pavilion.
ONWARD AND UPWARD, 2017-2018 | Canada 150 Banner, Surrey BC