Sanchita Islam - Nomad (Night), 2007

Medium: Video Painting, Projection, Color and no sound

Dimensions: 28 Scapes | Duration: 3 hours, 16 min., 12 sec.

Collection: Video Painting Solo Series

Edition of 7

Reference: VPSS-SINN07

Nomad (Night) is a collection of twenty eight paintings by Bangladeshi artist Sanchita Islam. The collection was premiered at the Future Cities exhibition at the Hayward Gallery in London in 2007.

Shot in India, Cambodia, Bangladesh and England, Nomad encompasses a series works that deal with the passage of time, the drifting through continents, exciting and exotic but ultimately endless journeys. Fast and dangerous scooters, catastrophically congested cross roads, pedestrians, cyclists and bus drivers all competing to arrive at their personal destinations. The settings for these fleeting glimpses of unknown individuals vary from beautifully lit Hindu temples, to the raw concrete and night trade of East London.

Yet, in spite of all this variety, the fifteen pieces express a single idea very clearly. Shot at dusk and night time, the works inherit a degree of uniformity and a common mode of expression which disguises the vast differences in culture and location that are apparent on closer inspection. This blurred sameness suggests a dulled consciousness of the inhabitant of each shot. The destination is fixed, the journey is blank, unquestioning and infinite.

Sanchita Islam is an artist, writer and film maker. Major exhibitions and screenings in London, New York, Paris, Bangladesh, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur and Frankfurt. She has filmed in New York, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, Nepal, Cambodia, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Barcelona and Miami for Open and the production of her fifteen films to date. Her films and books, which combine text and drawings, have been funded by the Arts Council, BBC and British Council. Eight years ago she founded Pigment Explosion which specializes in international art projects.

Artist in Residence at the Whitechapel (2003-4), Islam was also Artist in Residence at Open Gallery from 2004 - 2008.